


Summers of Firelilies

by cherylwoo



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-07
Updated: 2014-09-25
Packaged: 2018-01-18 11:46:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 27,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1427305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherylwoo/pseuds/cherylwoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU of Hetalia characters in the Avatar: the Last Airbender universe. Occurs well after the events of the 100-Year War and the Harmony Restoration Movement. But you don’t need to have watched Avatar to understand the story. Arthur, the Earth Kingdom prince, glimpses a subject of his kingdom catch a robber.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I know that the Avatar: the Last Airbender universe consists of Asians. But Hetalia is not restricted to just Asia. Thus, I decided to use some creative license, and placed the Fire Nation to the Asian/Eastern part of the world, and the other nations to the Western part of the world.
> 
> I also know I said that you don’t need to have watched Avatar: the Last Airbender to understand the story. But you have to know a couple of things. Firstly, benders are capable of manipulating elements with specific movements, i.e. firebenders manipulate fire, earthbenders manipulate earth, etc. Non-benders don’t have bending ability, i.e. they are normal human beings like you and me. Secondly, chi-blocking prevents benders from bending. With that said, please enjoy the story!

Arthur stifled a yawn as he dug into his bowl of noodles in the outdoor section of a restaurant in Ba Sing Se. With his earthbending, he casually circled a few tiny pieces of gravel he had picked up along the way around each other.

Arthur was the Earth Kingdom crown prince. His father was the Earth King and his mother was the Earth Queen. Naturally, Arthur was bound to inherit the throne when his father retired.

“My prince, will you stop playing with your food?!” Arthur’s personal guard scolded him.

Arthur glanced up, where his earthbender guard was seated opposite him. Ludwig was a no-nonsense type of person, and could not stand to see time being wasted.

Ordinarily, Ludwig would be standing at attention by Arthur’s side, ready to protect the prince. But as they were disguised as commoners, Ludwig was posing as Arthur’s friend, and so was seating opposite the prince.

“Would you please relax, Ludwig?” groaned Arthur, rolling his eyes. “And please don’t call me ‘my prince’ – we are here to get out of the palace.”

Ludwig bowed his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you done with your food?” Arthur peered curiously at Ludwig’s empty bowl.

“Yes, that’s why I’m pestering you to finish eating!”

Arthur hid a smile behind his hand. “Chill,” he told Ludwig. “Look,” Arthur said, pointing towards a small market in their vicinity. “There’re a few shops over there – why don’t you go look at some of the stuff they have on sale?”

Ludwig frowned. “But I can’t leave you alone and unguarded…”

Arthur sighed. He didn’t like to use his status as a prince to order his guard around. But if he didn’t want Ludwig breathing down his back, he had to. “We’re in disguise and no one here knows my identity,” Arthur articulated. “And… That’s an order.”

Ludwig looked hesitantly at Arthur.

Arthur gestured encouragingly for Ludwig to leave.

Ludwig made an exasperated sound. “So do I meet you back here, my pr-?” Ludwig clamped his hand over his mouth to stop himself before he gave away Arthur’s identity once again.

Arthur smirked. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find me.” That much was true – no matter where Arthur was, Ludwig was so accustomed to guarding Arthur that he had more or less accustomed himself to the prince’s presence to be able to detect him anywhere.

Wordlessly, Ludwig got up and left.

Arthur chuckled to himself as he watched his guard leave. He slurped up more of his noodles. Ludwig didn’t know it, but he needed to take his eyes off Arthur and get a life, even if it was his duty to guard Arthur.

Arthur looked around. The subjects of his kingdom were busy with their daily lives, bustling down and across the street in a hurry.

Suddenly, a girl’s shout could be heard. “Hey!”

There was a brief commotion, and Arthur quickly made his way out of the restaurant to see what was happening.

A man, not more than 25 years of age perhaps, violently pushed Arthur out of the way, as he ran past the prince. There was a young girl chasing him from behind. It looked like he had snatched away the girl’s bag when she wasn’t paying attention.

Arthur was about to give chase to the robber when a stream of fire rushed past him and knocked the robber off his feet and onto the ground. The robber fell with a loud cry of pain. The stream of fire transformed into a wall of fire and circled itself around the robber, trapping him.

Arthur was highly impressed. He didn’t see many firebenders around the Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom’s Fire Nation colonies where most firebenders in the Earth Kingdom lived had now been transformed into the United Republic of Nations, where benders and non-benders from all four nations could live together and thrive within one city.

The firebender appeared from within the crowd, with the young girl following behind him. He adorned the Fire Nation’s colours – he was wearing a red shirt and black trousers. He had long hair, tied back into a pony tail and his eyes were blazing.

Arthur watched as the firebender walked towards the fire wall surrounding the robber. With a fluid movement, he lowered the wall and took the girl’s bag away from the robber. He handed the bag back to the girl, who thanked him with a wide smile.

The robber was still sitting on the ground, stunned. He did not think that he would have been bested by a firebender.

The firebender turned back to the robber, glaring at him fiercely. He wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulder. “Should I have you over to the authorities or have you apologise to this girl, aru?”

The robber glared back at the firebender. “Fucking firebender!” he yelled viciously with hatred in his eyes. “I don’t answer to you!” It was clear that the robber still had a strong dislike towards firebenders and the Fire Nation in general due to the 100-year war.

The firebender’s eyes narrowed, and he shot a couple of fireballs at the robber’s head. “Watch what you are saying!”

It was then the local authorities rushed over. They had seen a commotion and had come to check it out. After a brief conversation with the firebender, they arrested the now injured robber and took him away.

Arthur observed the whole exchange take place. He saw the young girl thank the firebender before going off on her way. He even saw the firebender leave the scene.

Arthur had seen many firebenders firebend in his lifetime, but none of them had the grace and fluidity of motion as this firebender had. His firebending was perfect. And his eyes… they held some sort of passion in them that Arthur could not describe… Arthur decided that he couldn’t let the firebender out of his sight, so he followed him. Arthur wanted to know where he lived. He seemed so strange and out of place in the Earth Kingdom. But that was not necessarily a bad thing. Arthur wanted to know everything about this firebender.

The prince followed the firebender all the way to a house in Ba Sing Se, nearer to the borders of the Middle Ring of the city. This indicated that the firebender was from the middle-class populace of the Earth Kingdom.

A young, beautiful girl sprinted out to greet the firebender. “Brother Yao! You’re home!” she exclaimed.

So the firebender’s name was Yao. Arthur voicelessly mouthed the name. He grinned to himself. He liked the way the name rolled in his mouth.

As the girl embraced Yao and wrapped her arms tightly around his middle, Yao gasped. “You are getting too strong to be pressing on me, Mei,” he uttered. “Next time, a hug will do, aru.”

Mei pouted. “But you’re so nice to glomp!”

Yao smiled. “Well, you are getting too strong to be ‘glomping’ people,” he told his sister. “You’ll kill them!” he jokingly said.

Mei looked at the ground. It looked like she felt guilty for hurting her oldest brother. “I’m sorry – does it hurt?”

Yao chuckled and rubbed the top of Mei’s head, messing up her hair slightly. “It’s okay. I’m your big brother – I can withstand anything!”

Then, the siblings entered the house.

Arthur crept nearer and nearer towards the house. He eventually found himself kneeling by one of the windows and peeking inside the house. He was determined to learn more about this mesmerising firebender.

Over the course of four hours, Arthur learnt that Yao was the oldest out of five children. His siblings, in order, were Kiku, Yong Soo, Mei and Hong Kong. Yao was the head of the family, and his siblings went to him for everything – advice, problems, grumblings… Yao also did most of the chores around the house. It must be pretty tiresome, being Yao… But that made him even more attractive to Arthur. Arthur liked the fact that Yao could have so many things on his plate, and yet still manage it all without complains.

“Here you are, my prince,” a gruff voice said into Arthur’s ear.

Arthur’s head whipped around to look at his big-sized guard. “Ludwig!” he hissed. “You’re too conspicuous! Squat down!”

Ludwig did as he was told and drew nearer to the prince. “Why, may I ask, are we acting so stealthily?”

“Earlier on, I saw a firebender reprimand a robber,” explained Arthur. “And I guess I was fascinated by him, so I followed him home.”

“So you are now spying on him.”

There was a pause. Ludwig looked at the prince closely. To his amusement, Arthur was blushing.

“Yeah, I guess,” said the prince in a small voice. Ludwig didn’t think it was possible, but Arthur got redder at that admission.

“My prince, do you like this firebender?”

There was another pause. This time, the pause was longer than the last.

Nevertheless, Ludwig waited patiently for the prince to answer his question.

“Maybe,” Arthur finally said softly. “Perhaps. I don’t know.”

“Hmm?”

“I mean, I haven’t even talked to him yet! What I know about him is from what I’ve been observing for the past four hours,” Arthur reasoned.

“Do you like what you’ve seen so far?”

Arthur closed his eyes and tilted his head towards the sky. “Yes. Very much.”

“Why don’t you introduce yourself to him?”

Arthur scoffed. “And say what? ‘Hi, I saw you firebend and catch a robber, and I think you’re really hot, want to go on a date with me?’ It doesn’t work like that, Ludwig!”

“I didn’t mean ask him on a date yet,” said Ludwig. “Introduce yourself to him. Get to know him better.”

Arthur hummed quietly. He looked thoughtful. “Maybe I will do that…” he murmured. “But…”

“My prince?”

“I need to gather my guts to confront him,” said Arthur, blushing.

Still hunched, Arthur started crawling away from Yao’s home. “Come on, let’s go home,” he muttered.

Ludwig stared at the prince’s retreating back. Inwardly, he saluted this remarkable firebender who was capable of turning the usually confident prince into an embarrassed, bubbling mess. Then, he followed Arthur.


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur couldn’t take his mind off the fascinating firebender from that afternoon. Even as he lay on his balcony outside, looking at the stars in the sky, his mind kept drifting back to Yao.

There was a knock on Arthur’s door.

“Yes?” called Arthur from outside.

“Can I come in?” It was the Queen, Arthur’s mother.

“Yeah, sure.”

Arthur door quietly opened to reveal the Earth Queen. She was beautiful beyond her years, and looked much younger than she really was. Most of her female subjects envied her for that. “Arthur, dear,” she said, stepping into Arthur’s room. “Is something wrong?”

“Huh?” Arthur got up from where he was lying and entered his room to speak with his mother. “What makes you say that?”

The Queen winked at the prince. “A mother’s hunch.”

Arthur debated with himself whether or not to tell his mother about Yao. She could give him some good advice. But Arthur didn’t know what her opinion was on him falling in love and dating. When Arthur was growing up, he never had any romantic interests that worried his parents. And now that he thought he might be attracted to someone, he didn’t know what to do.

In the end, Arthur decided not to bother his mother with his romantic interest – she might make too big a deal out of it, gushing about how her “little Artie” is all grown up and falling in love, or something like that. Arthur shuddered. He hated it when his mother mollycoddled him.

“It’s nothing,” Arthur finally said.

The Queen frowned – she knew something was bothering her son. But she left it at that. She didn’t want to pry too deeply into her son’s affairs. That was not what mothers do. “You know you can come to me if there is something wrong, right?”

Arthur laughed and kissed his mother on the cheek. “Yes, Mother,” he replied. “I’ll definitely go to you if it’s something I can’t handle.”

The Queen nodded, seemingly satisfied. “By the way…”

Arthur looked expectantly at his mother.

“Your father told me to remind you about the party tomorrow night.”

“The party. Right…” mumbled Arthur. The Earth King was organising a party for one of his ministers who was going into retirement. It was sort of a farewell party for him.

“Natalia is going to be there,” the Queen said, wagging her eyebrows suggestively.

Arthur’s jaw dropped open. He had totally forgotten about the crazy, obsessive girl!

“I… I’ll be there,” Arthur told his mother.

The Queen smiled at her son before she walked out, closing Arthur’s room door behind her.

Once his mother had left, Arthur flopped down onto his bed. Now that he knew Natalia would be there, he dreaded going to the party tonight.

Natalia was a daughter of the Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, and basically grew up alongside Arthur, with two of her older siblings. But because she was Arthur’s age, they were closer than Arthur was to her other siblings – they had the same tutor, and would often have their lessons together with some other ministers’ children in the Royal Palace who were of the same age as Arthur. Natalia had an obsession with her brother, Ivan, when she was growing up, but as she matured and was well into the age whereby she was able to get married, her attention shifted to the prince. Arthur generally dismissed Natalia’s affections. He had a strong feeling that she wanted to marry him just so that she could be crowned Earth Queen since he was, without any doubt, going to become Earth King in the future. Arthur knew that secretly, Natalia was still head over heels in love with her brother.

Perhaps Arthur could invite Mathias, a friend he had met when Mathias’ father was visiting the Earth Kingdom when he was very young, to make the party more bearable. When Mathias and his father returned to the Northern Water Tribe, Arthur and Mathias communicated with one other through letters. Mathias was currently on a trip around the world to “discover himself”, making a stop in the Earth Kingdom to see his good friend and sample the goodies (food) in the region. Along with him on his journey was his long-time partner, Lukas, and Lukas’ brother, Emil, who wanted to tag along when he discovered that his brother was leaving on a long journey. Both Mathias and Lukas weren’t benders, but Emil was a waterbender.

But Arthur didn’t know if Mathias would be able to make it on such short notice. No doubt, Mathias would bring Lukas as his date if he came. Arthur had no objections about it – Lukas didn’t cause any trouble at all – he was a quiet, stoic man, and seemed to be able to keep the loud-mouthed Mathias in check.

Yes, Arthur would pay Mathias a visit tomorrow and invite him to the party. For now, he would just forget about Natalia, and would deal with her when the time came.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, after inviting Mathias to the party that night (to which Mathias said that he would go), Arthur went over to Yao’s house to spy on the firebender again. It wasn’t as if he could help it – he was so damn curious about Yao. Arthur wanted to know what Yao did, where he worked, his daily routine, what he liked, what ticked him off… everything!

“My prince,” Ludwig panted from behind Arthur. “Am I right in thinking that you are going to the firebender’s place again?”

“Yes,” replied Arthur.

“Spying on people is not a very gentlemanly thing to do,” Ludwig admonished. “And not to mention, illegal!”

“Well,” said Arthur huffily. “Since you don’t approve of what I am doing, why don’t you mind your own business and I’ll meet you back here in three hours? No one knows who I am and is going to harm me anyway.”

“But my prince!”

“Go!”

With much hesitation, Ludwig left Arthur to his own devices.

Content that he no longer had his personal guard to impede his efforts to spy on the firebender, Arthur happily made his way to Yao’s house.

When the prince got there, he was just in time to witness Yao practice his firebending in the back of his home, where there was a small lawn.

Arthur watched in awe as Yao generated long-range fire whips that broke apart some large rocks that had most probably fallen due to some construction going on in that area.

When Yao was done, Arthur had to resist the urge to clap in appreciation.

Yao shot four flames towards the four poles in the corners of the lawn. He settled himself down on the ground, as if meditating.

Arthur observed the flames as they got larger and then their intensity diminished. At first, he thought that the wind was influencing the fire, but as time went on, Arthur realised that Yao was mentally controlling the intensity of the flames. Eventually, the flames became so large that they congregated above Yao in a huge mass of fire. Arthur’s gasped involuntarily when he realised that Yao had just generated a fire lion in front of him.

As soon as the fire lion appeared, it disappeared.

Then, Yao spoke. “I know you’re watching me, aru.”

 _Shit!_ Arthur froze. He had been discovered! But how? He didn’t make a sound!

“You know, you can come out – I don’t bite.”

Arthur slowly stood from his hiding place. His face was flushed in embarrassment at being caught spying on the firebender. “How did you know…?”

Yao turned to face Arthur and smiled. “I can sense people’s auras. I sensed yours yesterday too, but decided not to say anything in front of my brothers and sister. I can’t do that around large crowds, though – too many of them blending into one another.”

“Oh.” Now Arthur felt stupid. He shouldn’t have been snooping around if Yao could sense him.

“But it’s okay, aru,” Yao said. “I don’t detect any malevolence from you. So I know you don’t mean any harm.”

Arthur lifted his hands. “I don’t! I really don’t!” he exclaimed. “It’s just that… I saw you catch that robber with your firebending yesterday… and I was very impressed…”

Yao laughed. Arthur was secretly pleased to see that Yao was blushing. “It’s nothing – it was just some firebending!”

“But… but I saw you create that lion!” Arthur said. “I’ve never seen any firebenders do that before!”

Yao was still smiling. He bent his knees and shot out a large fire from his right fist. He waved his hand, and the fire moulded itself into a fire lion.

Arthur had to shield his eyes from the bright light of the fire.

“It’s a technique my grandfather taught me, aru,” Yao explained. He manipulated the fire lion to the ground to sit obediently in front of Arthur. “It’s an art form – it’s unique to members of my family. My sister is a firebender too, but she doesn’t have the strength to create a lion. She can create a rose, though.”

“Wow,” Arthur gaped at the fire lion in front of him. He really wanted to touch it, but was afraid of burning himself. “Can you create a rose?”

Yao shook his head. He diminished the fire, causing the lion to disappear. “No,” he replied. “The more delicate art forms are reserved for females.”

“I see… I think it’s amazing,” said Arthur.

Yao laughed again. “It took me the better part of my early years to perfect it,” he told Arthur. “I used to cry when my grandfather punished me for not concentrating enough to get it right.”

Arthur smiled. “That’s part of learning, I guess.” He pictured Yao as a little child running around and practicing his firebending. Arthur’s smile widened. Yao must have been very cute back then. He still was. “Well, I’m Arthur,” Arthur introduced himself, holding out a hand towards Yao.

Yao shook the proffered hand. “My name is Yao, aru.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” said Arthur. “Do you want to grab some tea sometime or…?”

Yao chuckled. “Tea would be great.”


	4. Chapter 4

The farewell party for the King’s minister was satisfactory, in Arthur’s opinion. So far. Arthur hadn’t seen Natalia, and he hoped he didn’t see her for the entire duration of the night.

Arthur was conversing with a friend of his, Antonio, when Mathias approached them with a glass of wine in his hand. “Yo, Toni!” he yelled, draping an arm around Antonio’s shoulder. “How about that lass you were trying to woo?”

“Oh yeah,” Arthur perked up and seemed interested. He leaned forward and poked Antonio in the ribs cheekily. “How’s it going with Bella?”

Antonio turned pink. “It’s alright, I guess,” he replied. “Slowly, but surely…”

“You dog, you!!” Mathias roared cheerfully, and elbowed Antonio. “So when are you going to ask her?”

“Eh?” Antonio’s eyes widened, and he looked at Arthur and Mathias as if they’d each grown an extra head. “I don’t know?! Do you think it’s too soon?”

Arthur smiled softly at Antonio. He placed a hand on Antonio’s shoulder. “You will know when it is right – your heart knows and it will tell you.”

Mathias looked at Arthur strangely. “Since when have you become so sentimental, dude?”

Arthur laughed with his two friends. “Perhaps I have been bitten by the love bug too,” he said secretively.

Both Mathias and Antonio’s eyes widened. In all their years growing up, Arthur had never expressed an attraction to anyone. “WHO? WHO IS IT?!” they bellowed together.

Arthur looked innocently at them. “Secret.”

“Noooo!!” Mathias grabbed Arthur’s sleeve and tugged it incessantly. “Don’t do this to me, man! Come on, you have to tell me who is it!”

Arthur pried Mathias’ fingers away from his sleeve, in fear of Mathias damaging his shirt. “I don’t even know if he likes me yet!” he said. “When I’m sure that I’m courting him, I will tell you!”

“Oh? It’s a ‘him’?” Antonio inquired.

“Yes.”

No one said anything else after that, for they were interrupted by Natalia gently tapping her finger on Arthur’s shoulder. “Prince Arthur?” an artificially sweet voice whispered into Arthur’s ear.

Arthur stiffened. Antonio and Mathias pretended to be busy with other things.

Rigidly, Arthur turned around. “Yes, Natalia?” he grit out.

“Please dance with me,” Natalia said. “I like this song, and it’s a nice song to dance to.”

Arthur nodded. He took Natalia’s hand and led her to the dance floor to dance. Arthur prepared to lead the dance, and as Natalia settled into his arms, he tried to imagine that he was dancing with Yao and not Natalia.

But it was very hard – Natalia and Yao were so different. Natalia had unfriendly eyes and a very icy demeanour. Whereas Yao had passionate eyes and a very warm demeanour. Arthur couldn’t do it.

Instead, Arthur bit the inside of his cheek and endured dancing with Natalia. As they danced, Arthur looked at Natalia. She was at ease with the entire situation. So at ease, that at one point, Natalia even rested her head on Arthur’s chest.

When the song ended, Arthur and Natalia stopped dancing. Arthur bowed deeply, and kissed Natalia’s hand, for courtesy’s sake.

Natalia let out a high-pitched giggle. “It was nice seeing you tonight, Prince Arthur.”

“It was nice seeing you too, my lady,” Arthur replied before turning around and leaving.


	5. Chapter 5

That night, Arthur didn’t sleep well. He couldn’t sleep – he was so excited at the prospect of meeting Yao the following day.

Yao told Arthur that he was working as a research assistant in Ba Sing Se University, and didn’t get off work till 4pm. So they had arranged to meet at the Jasmine Dragon at 4.30pm for some tea.

Arthur wondered what sort of topics they would talk about. Did they even have anything in common?

Arthur buried his face into his pillow and smiled goofily to himself. No matter what, he was sure he’d find Yao very entertaining.

* * *

After Arthur’s military meeting, he made his way to the Jasmine Dragon to meet Yao. He was early, but he didn’t mind – it gave him time to compose himself and look presentable for Yao. Ludwig had made to follow Arthur out of the palace after the meeting, but the prince dismissed him – Arthur didn’t want Yao to know that he was the prince just yet. It might scare Yao away.

Arthur found a nice, cosy spot in a quiet corner of the Jasmine Dragon. He ordered a pot of tea for himself; Arthur didn’t know what sort of tea Yao liked, so he would let Yao order his own tea.

Arthur spent his time sipping his tea and gazing out of the window at the Earth Kingdom people doing their business. There were many shops selling a variety of things, such as clothes and accessories. Arthur observed an elderly lady help a young girl try on a garment she wanted to buy. All in all, the Kingdom was at peace.

At 4.40pm, Yao burst into the Jasmine Dragon, panting. He immediately caught sight of Arthur, sitting serenely by the window in a corner of the shop. Yao made his way towards Arthur.

“Sorry, I’m late!” Yao gasped. “There was an accident in the lab…!”

Arthur’s eyes widened. “An accident?!” He immediately stood up and grabbed Yao by the shoulders, running his hands over Yao’s body. “You’re not injured, are you?”

Yao shook his head. He was still trying to catch his breath after running all the way to the Jasmine Dragon so that he wouldn’t be too late to meet his new friend. “I’m… fine…!” he managed.

Arthur pulled out a chair and lightly pushed Yao onto it. “Sit down,” he ordered. “Take your time.”

Soon, Yao recovered from his run and was breathing normally. He laughed sheepishly and apologised for making Arthur worry about him for no reason.

“Don’t be silly – what are you sorry for?!” Arthur waved a hand dismissively. “What tea would you like?” he asked Yao as a waiter approached them to take Yao’s order.

“Er… give me a jasmine green tea, aru,” Yao said to the waiter, who promptly nodded and headed off to prepare Yao’s tea.

Arthur then turned to Yao. “What caused the accident?”

Yao sniggered. “Disposing unoxidised sodium with water,” he deadpanned. “There was an explosion, aru.”

Arthur winced. “Ouch. Was the person supposed to do that?”

“No… Well, he thought he was disposing oxidised sodium – he did it correctly with water. But we didn’t know that there was a pocket of unoxidised sodium there, so yeah.”

It was then Yao’s pot of tea arrived. Yao thanked the waiter, and poured some tea into his cup.

Arthur gazed at Yao for a moment as Yao took a sip of his tea and sighed in pleasure. He wondered if Yao would look like that when Arthur kissed him. Realising what had just gone through his mind, Arthur’s eyes widened, and he vigorously shook his head.

“So… I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what’s a firebender doing in the Earth Kingdom?”

Yao looked up at Arthur from his tea. “My father got a job here as a professor in Ba Sing Se University, so my family moved here,” he told Arthur. “He taught anthropology, aru.”

“You’re an Earth Kingdom citizen?”

“Oh no,” the firebender replied, shaking his head. “I was born in the Fire Nation. So was Kiku. But Yong Soo, Mei and Hong Kong were born here, thus making them Earth Kingdom citizens.”

Arthur rested his chin on his hand. “I would like to meet your family someday,” he mused.

Yao’s face brightened. “You can come to my place anytime!” he said. “I’ll even get Mei to show you her fire rose if she’s around!”

Arthur laughed. “Okay, I’ll hold you to your word.”

* * *

In Arthur’s opinion, his meeting with Yao was rewarding, and Arthur found himself merrily skipping back to the palace.

Arthur had found out, amongst other things, that Yao’s parents had perished in a boat that had sunk in the ocean shortly after Hong Kong was born while on an academic trip, and that Yao had single-handedly managed the family after that. He had also discovered that amongst Yao and his siblings, Yao, Mei and Hong Kong were firebenders. He learnt that Yao, just like him, loved tea, and could spend hours in a day just drinking the beverage. He even found out a bit about what Yao was researching on as a research assistant – the effect of glycyrrhetic acid on diabetic rats.

However, when Yao asked Arthur what he did for a living, Arthur had to offer him a vague description, since Arthur didn’t want him knowing he was the prince just yet, so he told Yao he was in the military. Which was quite true. So Arthur didn’t feel TOO guilty about lying to Yao.

“I take it the meeting went well?”

Arthur jumped at the voice. He whipped his head around to glare at the owner of the voice. Ludwig was leaning on a pillar at the entrance of the Royal Palace.

“Ludwig!” Arthur exclaimed. “I thought you went home?!”

“Had to make sure the prince returned to the palace in one piece,” Ludwig shrugged.

Arthur rolled his eyes. Sometimes, he thought that Ludwig took his job way too seriously. “Right. I’m safely home and in one piece; you can go home now.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“What?”

“You went to see the firebender, didn’t you?” Ludwig asked gently. “How did it go?”

Arthur blanched. “How’d you know that?!” he demanded.

Ludwig snorted. “Please. You had that lovestruck look on your face when you dismissed me and left the palace earlier. It was obvious you were going to meet him.”

 _Drat._ Arthur cursed himself silently. He had to learn not to be so open with his emotions. “It was great,” he finally replied. “I learnt a lot of things about him. I really like him a lot more now.”

Ludwig smiled at the prince. “I am happy for you, my prince.”

“I hope it works out, you know?”

“Knowing you, I’m sure it will,” Ludwig told Arthur. “When are you seeing him again?”

“He’s invited me to his place,” replied Arthur. “Since I said I wanted to meet his family. But I didn’t confirm a date.”

“Hm.”

“Do you think I could just turn up unannounced?”

“The polite thing to do would be to make an appointment, my prince.”

Arthur sighed. “I thought so. Well, I guess I’ll send him a letter or something.”

“That would be best.”

“Thanks, Ludwig.”

The guard looked at Arthur with a tender expression. “You are like a son to me, my prince. I’ve watched you grow up into the man you are today. I only want you to be happy.”

Arthur felt his throat go dry. He had no idea his personal guard felt this way about him. He nodded. “I understand.”

With one hand, Ludwig reached out and patted Arthur’s shoulder firmly with his palm. Then, Ludwig turned around to depart, leaving Arthur to enter the Royal Palace alone.


	6. Chapter 6

Natalia was in a bad mood. When she was moody, the whole world knew for she vocalised her moods very loudly. She would stomp around, slam doors, scream at the servants… Naturally, no one wanted to be near Natalia when she was in a bad mood.

Natalia was out in her garden by the pond, throwing rocks angrily into the river. Normally, she would be skipping rocks, as she was rather good at that. But now, her temper had gotten the better of her.

Ivan strolled past, a book in his hand. He glanced at his sister throwing a tantrum.

Ivan closed his book and walked towards Natalia. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Natalia stopped herself from throwing another rock into the pond. Her beloved brother could not see her being so undignified!

Natalia turned around to face Ivan. “It’s the prince,” she said morosely.

Ivan raised an eyebrow. “Prince Arthur? What about him?”

“He’s been ignoring me!” Natalia wailed.

“What do you mean?”

“He has been cold to me! And he hasn’t returned my letters!” cried Natalia.

Ivan pressed his lips into a thin line. “Maybe give him some time? Maybe he is busy, da?” The thing about his sister was that she was very impatient.

“He can’t be too busy to reply my letters or to call me back!” retorted Natalia. “Besides, at the party the other day, he was very distant towards me!”

Ivan sighed. _Here we go again._

“I know there’s something up with him, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it!”

* * *

Arthur liked to practice his earthbending away from the Royal Palace. There were too many busybodies and gossips in the palace, and he didn’t like to be distracted.

So, Arthur chose a quiet spot with lots of free space to practice. As instructed, Ludwig guarded him discreetly from a distance. One could only see Ludwig if they were looking for him.

Arthur decided to try out something he learnt by watching the Dai Li. The Dai Li were masters of the rock glove technique – they usually used it to apprehend the wrongdoers in the Kingdom. Apart from that, it was an important technique for them in battle. Arthur thought it was a fantastic technique, for when enough force was exerted, it was capable of cracking and breaking large boulders. He had even asked one of the Dai Li agents how they did it.

But the downside of the rock glove technique was that Arthur couldn’t use it to fight against another earthbender. It would be nullified by the other earthbender before it could even reach him.

Nevertheless, Arthur wanted to try it out.

For starters, Arthur threw rock gloves at the rock wall in front of him. At first, he had a bit of a problem forming the rocks into hand-shaped rocks, but eventually, he got the hang of it. When Arthur got more adventurous, he tried to throw the rock gloves as a projectile into the rock wall.

Arthur got bored soon enough. There was a mischievous look on his face as his eyes darted over to where Ludwig stood with his back facing Arthur. Without warning, Arthur threw two rock gloves at Ludwig. They caught Ludwig’s arms and clamped them behind his back, effectively handcuffing him.

“OI!”

Arthur laughed heartily at the irate look on the guard’s face.

“LET ME GO THIS INSTANT!”

“Okay, okay!” yelled Arthur to Ludwig. “It was just a joke – you don’t have to get so pissed off about it!”

Arthur waved his hands and the rock gloves dislodged from Ludwig’s arms and fell to the ground, becoming normal rock.

“Arthur, aru?”

Arthur quickly turned around. Much to his delight, he came face to face with Yao, who had appeared from behind a boulder.

Yao’s curious face turned into a cheerful one. “It is you!” he exclaimed. “I thought I heard you!”

“Y-Yao?” Arthur stared at the firebender with wide eyes. He hadn’t expected Yao to find him there. “What are you doing here?”

“Nothing,” replied Yao. “Was just walking around, when I thought I heard your voice, aru.”

“Oh.” Arthur turned red. “Was I very loud?”

Yao hid a grin behind his hand. “No. You just have a very special voice.”

“O-Oh.”

“What are you doing, by the way?”

Arthur puffed out his chest proudly. “I’m practicing my earthbending,” he told Yao.

Yao’s eyes lit up. “Do you usually come here to practice?”

“Well, sometimes…” replied Arthur. “I don’t really like to practice at the pa-” Arthur stopped himself before he could reveal his identity to Yao. “I don’t like to practice at home.”

Yao looked at the rocks haphazardly lying on the ground, thanks to Arthur earthbending them. “Can I see you earthbend, aru?”

Arthur laughed. “You want to see ME earthbend?”

“Why not? You’ve seen me firebend,” Yao pointed out.

Arthur was still laughing. “Good point.”

Arthur decided not to show Yao the rock gloves technique he had been practicing. He was still new to it, and hadn’t really gotten the hang of it yet. Arthur bent his knees and held his arms low. Then, with a sweeping motion, he brought his arms above his head, bringing a large rock wall from the ground. If Arthur had been a non-bender, it would have been impossible for him to break the wall. But Arthur was an earthbender. So, Arthur took a step forward, and brought his fist onto the wall, punching it lightly. Immediately, the rock wall crumbled to the ground.

Yao observed Arthur earthbend in admiration. By the end of it, Yao was clapping his hands. “That was great, aru!”

Arthur scratched his head sheepishly. “It… it was nothing – it was just a simple work of earthbending,” he mumbled.

“It was still awesome,” said Yao.

Arthur blushed. He didn’t think Yao would be so easily pleased. Or maybe that was because Yao wasn’t an earthbender and didn’t know how easy it was to create a rock wall and crush it down. “Thanks.”

The two of them remained silent for a while. Yao was looking at the rocks on the ground, and Arthur was embarrassedly looking everywhere but at Yao.

Finally, Yao spoke up. “If you’re done practicing, would you like to come to my place for a snack, aru?”

Arthur looked at Yao. “Huh?”

“Yeah.” Yao’s gaze shifted to look at the ground, and shyly moved some small rocks around with his foot. “Kiku has just returned from his trip to the Fire Nation, and he’s brought back some Fire Nation snacks… such as fire flakes, sizzle-crisps, fire gummies and the like… and I was wondering if you’d like to come over and have some?”

“Oh.” Arthur stole a glance over at Ludwig, who was pretending to be a passer-by. “Yeah, sure! I have never tried Fire Nation food before!”

Yao smiled. “It’s quite spicy, as they like to put spices to everything they eat… but once you get used to it, the food is quite delicious!”

“I’m game for it!”

Yao made to leave towards his home. Arthur followed behind him, feeling like a love-sick puppy, but not minding it at all.

Ludwig, on the other hand, sighed long-sufferingly, and trailed behind the prince at a distance, so that Yao would not be suspicious of his presence.

* * *

Out of all of Yao’s siblings, Arthur had to say he favoured Hong Kong the most. Unlike Kiku, who was very serious, Hong Kong was a prankster at heart, and with his poker-faced expression, he could pull off any prank successfully. Unlike Yong Soo, Hong Kong was not touchy-feely and didn’t claim that he invented every damn thing in the world. Unlike Mei, Hong Kong was not overexcited.

Yes, Arthur liked Hong Kong.

BOOM!!

“Hong Kong!” Mei cried from the kitchen.

Yao groaned. By the sounds coming from outside the house, it looked like Hong Kong had released yet another lot of firecrackers.

“Your home is so lively,” Arthur commented as he took a sip of the tea Yao had prepared. Yao’s house was unlike the palace, where the palace staff mostly left Arthur to his own devices. It could get very lonely, which was why Arthur often found himself escaping from the confines of the dreary palace. In all honesty, Arthur craved the human companionship that could be found in Yao’s family.

“Too lively,” muttered Yao darkly.

Hong Kong soon entered the house. The side of his face was blackened with burnt ash from the fireworks. The edge of his shirt was burnt. He looked a mess, but the gleeful expression on his face made up for it. “Next time, I’m going to try and make a dragon!”

“Did you clean up after yourself, aru?”

“Will do it later!” yelled Hong Kong as he disappeared into his room to change his attire.

Yao turned to Arthur. “I’m really sorry for the state of my house,” he said apologetically. “I really should have made sure Hong Kong was going to be in his best behaviour.”

Arthur erupted into laughter. “Don’t be! I like your home,” he told Yao. “Compared to my home, it’s very… energetic!”

Yao raised an eyebrow. He was now questioning Arthur’s sanity.

“It’s true!” said Arthur energetically. “The people in my house are so stiff and uptight!”

“You parents, you mean?”

“Somewhat… And the servants too.”

Yao looked at his teacup guiltily. Sometimes, he forgot that not everyone was as fortunate as he was to have a large family to share the joys and pains of life with. Moreover, Arthur told him that he was an only child and could get very lonely at times. “I’m sorry…” Yao said quietly. “I didn’t think…”

Arthur barked out a delighted sound. He reached forward and put his hand onto Yao’s. “Don’t be daft!” he said. “I’m not upset or anything!”

“Well, I’m still sorry,” said Yao. “Let’s not talk about families then, shall we?”

Arthur shrugged.

“How are you liking the fire flakes, aru?”

“Mm! It’s good!” said Arthur. “A bit too spicy, but there’s just the right amount of seasoning on it. I like it.”

Yao beamed. He was glad Arthur liked Fire Nation food.


	7. Chapter 7

Natalia stormed into her house.

Natalia had spent the day following Arthur around, and she had found out why Arthur was not replying her letters, and was so distant and cold towards her during the party the other night. He was spending time with a Fire Nation emigrant! By the looks of it, Arthur was smitten over him.

Natalia growled deeply in her throat. She slammed the door of her room shut.

Natalia could not have Arthur liking someone else. Arthur was supposed to fall in love with her and then ask for her hand in marriage. Then, when he became Earth King, she would become Earth Queen. Her plan was flawless!

Natalia had to get rid of the Fire Nation boy.

* * *

SPLASH!

Arthur and Yao landed in the water together.

They had been walking together on a gentle hill after a lunch together to digest their food when Arthur tripped on the ground. He fell onto Yao, who lost his footing. So they tumbled down the hill together and found themselves sitting in the river.

Both Arthur and Yao were surprised at the turn of events.

They stared at one another for a moment before bursting out in laughter.

“You should have seen your face!”

Yao harrumphed. “What about my face, aru?”

Arthur snorted into his hand. “It was so cute!”

Then, there was silence as Yao stared at Arthur.

Arthur, horrified at what he had just blurted out, quickly tried to rectify the situation. “I… I mean, it was funnily cute!” he shouted.

Yao shook his head forcefully to recover. “Right.”

Arthur got up and squeezed the water out of the hem of his shirt. “Come on, I’ll get you home – you’re soaking wet.” He held out his hand to pull Yao up.

Yao nodded. He took Arthur’s hand and hoisted himself up. “You can borrow my clothes.”

“It’s okay,” said Arthur. “It was my fault anyway – I tripped and fell onto you. I should have been more careful.”

“But you’re going to catch a cold, aru!”

“I promise I’ll go straight home to change, okay?”

Yao frowned at Arthur, but didn’t argue. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

After Arthur sent Yao home and walked back to the Royal Palace, Ludwig appeared from hiding and joined him on the journey home.

“That was quite the slip of the tongue, huh, my prince?”

Arthur looked at Ludwig in distress. “Oh my god, I’m sure he thinks I’m some kind of pervert now!” he moaned. “What was I thinking, saying that out loud?!”

“There, there…” Ludwig soothed the prince, placing a hand on Arthur’s back. “It wasn’t that bad. So he knows you think he’s cute – that’s all there is.”

Arthur grunted.

At the turning to go back to the Royal Palace, Arthur didn’t turn. Instead, he walked in the opposite direction.

“Aren’t you going home?” Ludwig inquired.

Arthur shook his head miserably. “I’m just going to… bask in my misery…”

“But you’re drenched! What you said wasn’t even that bad!”

“I don’t care.”

* * *

Natalia, seated in her study, was rubbing her hands together in glee. Opposite her was her unwilling partner in crime, her brother, Ivan.

“Brother,” Natalia said sweetly. “You said you have some friends who know chi-blocking?”

Ivan looked at Natalia cautiously. To tell the truth, he was a little scared of her. Her plans were usually quite cruel. “Da, I do, why?”

“I found out through Arthur’s guard…”

“The tall blonde one? Ludwig?”

“Yes, him.” Natalia glared at her brother for interrupting her. “Anyway, Prince Arthur has taken a liking towards a firebender,” she told Ivan. “I need to get rid of the firebender, therefore I need your chi-blocker friends to chi-block him so that he can’t firebend.”

“He?”

Natalia shrugged. “I guess Prince Arthur likes males too.”

“What are you planning to do to him?” Frankly, Ivan was afraid of the answer.

“I’m going to send him back to the Fire Nation,” said Natalia. She was smiling serenely.

Ivan relaxed. That didn’t sound too bad.

“One piece at a time.”


	8. Chapter 8

The Earth Kingdom was holding their annual Harvest Festival. It was to thank the gods for a fruitful harvest that year.

As part of the celebration, there was a carnival where various game stalls and shows were held.

Arthur had decided to attend the carnival. He was accompanied by Mathias, who had brought his boyfriend, Lukas. Lukas’ brother, Emil, was following grudgingly behind them. Lukas didn’t trust Emil to be alone, and thus, he was forced to tag along the trio.

Mathias was attempting to catch a goldfish for Lukas. He wanted the biggest, fattest goldfish possible, so it was taking some time for him to choose one that suited his fancy.

Arthur watched in amusement as Mathias pointed to a strange-looking goldfish with huge eyes that were too heavy for it to carry and made it droop to the bottom of the basin, and asked Lukas if he wanted that sad-looking goldfish. Lukas whacked Mathias on the head and told Mathias that he didn’t want such a depressing-looking fish.

Briefly, the prince wondered if he would ever get the chance to do this with Yao.

Emil was blatantly ignoring Mathias and Lukas. He dug into his bag of lychee nuts and popped one into his mouth, munching it as he looked around, wondering if there was anything more interesting to do than to listen to Mathias and Lukas bicker.

Then, a quartet of girls appeared on the nearby stage and began dancing a traditional Earth Kingdom dance.

Mathias looked up from the fish and watched. He didn’t want to miss a chance to immerse himself in Earth Kingdom culture. Lukas, noticing that his boyfriend had shifted his attention somewhere else, also looked towards the stage and observed the dancing girls.

When the girls were done, they bowed, and there was applause for them.

The crowd around the stage dissipated, and it was then, Arthur caught sight of Yao gazing at the stage area. He was with Yong Soo and Hong Kong, who were immersed in an argument.

“Hey.” Arthur felt a tug on his sleeve.

“Hm?”

“Do you know who that is?” Emil pointed at Hong Kong.

Arthur looked at the direction of Emil’s finger. “You mean, Hong Kong?”

“That’s his name?”

“Yeah. I know him through his oldest brother.”

“Can you introduce us?” asked Emil.

Arthur stared at the waterbender. Was it him, or was there a blush tinging Emil’s cheeks?

“Well, I’m not sure if Lukas…” Arthur glanced at Lukas who went back to choosing a goldfish, and his voice trailed off. “Nevermind – he seems busy. Come on.”

Arthur brought Emil to Yao, who was still staring at the stage. “Hello, Yao,” Arthur greeted.

Startled, Yao jumped. He wasn’t expecting to see anyone he knew in the carnival. “Oh, Arthur!” he said. “Hi!”

“This is Emil,” Arthur introduced the silver-haired waterbender. Emil gave a shy wave. “He’s the brother of my friend’s boyfriend.”

“Oh,” said Yao. He reached out to shake Emil’s hand. “I’m Yao, aru.”

“Emil here would like to be introduced to Hong Kong,” Arthur told Yao with a wink.

“Oh?” Yao stole a glance at Hong Kong. He was still arguing with Yong Soo. Then realisation dawned upon Yao what exactly it was that Arthur meant. “OH.”

“Yeah,” said Arthur. “OH,” he imitated Yao. Arthur nudged Emil playfully. Emil swatted his elbow away.

“Hey, Hong Kong,” Yao said, poking his brother. “Hong Kong!”

“What?” was Hong Kong’s deadpan reply.

“Stop arguing with Yong Soo, will you, aru?!”

“He like, started it!”

Yong Soo stuck out his tongue at Hong Kong before hiding behind Yao.

“Okay, you two, stop arguing!” ordered Yao. “Hong Kong,” he said, turning to his youngest brother. “This is Emil.” Yao gently pushed Emil forward towards Hong Kong. “He would like to get to know you.”

Hong Kong shrugged. “Okay.” Then, he walked towards Emil and shook his hand. They began a conversation and made their way away from Arthur, Yao and Yong Soo.

“Don’t go too far!” called Arthur. “Lukas will get pissed!”

Emil replied with a wave.

“Hey, brother Yao?” Yong Soo wrapped an arm around Yao’s shoulder. “Do you mind if I meet you back here? I want to play some games, da-ze!”

“Okay,” Yao replied. “Be back here in two hours.”

“Right. See you!” Yong Soo ran off, leaving Arthur and Yao alone.

It was now quieter between them, so Arthur directed his gaze towards Yao. “I didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”

Yao chuckled. “Well, Yong Soo and Hong Kong dragged me here, aru.”

“Where are Kiku and Mei?”

“Kiku’s at home, reading – he doesn’t like social events like this. Mei is somewhere here too, I reckon – she’s with her friends.”

“Well, it’s great to see you here,” Arthur told Yao.

Yao nodded. “I thought I’d be bored out of my mind here, but now I’ve found a friendly face.”

“Let me introduce you to my friends – Emil’s brother and his partner. Come on!” Arthur led Yao over to the goldfish stand, where Mathias was now attempting to catch Lukas’ goldfish.

“Guys!” Arthur called.

Both Mathias and Lukas looked up.

“This is Yao,” said Arthur gesturing towards Yao.

“Hi, I’m Mathias,” Mathias introduced himself, shaking Yao’s hand.

Lukas did likewise. “Lukas.”

Yao peered into the basin Mathias and Lukas were crowding around. “Which fish are you getting, aru?”

Mathias pointed to a fat, orange goldfish. “That one.”

“Hm.” Yao looked around in the basin. “Why don’t you get that one?” He pointed at a calico goldfish.

“Mathias here wants the fattest goldfish,” said Lukas.

Yao laughed. “But the fatter ones usually have health problems and don’t live for very long,” he told the Water Tribe man. “Try catching the calico one.”

“He’s right, you know,” murmured Lukas to Mathias. “I don’t want something you got for me to expire so early.”

“O… okay.”

So Mathias caught the calico goldfish for Lukas, while Lukas caught a black goldfish for Mathias (“Because its colouring is special, just like you,” Lukas told Mathias).

When Lukas discovered Emil had disappeared with Hong Kong, he dragged Mathias along to look for Emil.

That left Arthur and Yao alone once again.

From watching Mathias and Lukas’ disappearing backs, Arthur turned around to look at Yao. “Do you want a goldfish?”

Yao looked at Arthur incredulously, and then erupted into laughter. “It’s okay – the reason we don’t have pets at home is that Yong Soo might poison them, aru!”

“Oh.”

“Why don’t we look for something to eat? I don’t have to be back here for two hours, and I feel like munching on something.”

At Yao’s suggestion, Arthur brightened up. “There’s a popular bakery that has set up a stall here –their cakes are delicious! I’ll take you there!” Without realising what he was doing, Arthur had grabbed Yao’s hand and pulled him in the direction of the stall.


	9. Chapter 9

“You know, I haven’t seen Natalia lately,” commented Arthur offhandedly to his personal guard, as he finished doing some push-ups in the palace grounds.

“Isn’t that a good thing, my prince?” Ludwig said. “You don’t seem very fond of her in the first place.”

“Yeah.” Arthur stood up. “But it’s strange – usually she’ll turn up at random times, scaring the hell out of me, and follow me around. But I have seen neither hide nor hair of her.”

Ludwig sniggered. “Maybe she has found somebody else to stalk. Although…”

Arthur put the towel he had been using to wipe his sweat away down on a chair. He looked at Ludwig questioningly. “Although what, Ludwig?”

“She did approach me about two weeks ago and asked about the firebender.”

Arthur frowned deeply. That sounded strange. “What did she ask?”

Ludwig had an equally curious frown on his face. “About him. General inquiries – what he did, where he stays… those kind of questions.”

“What did you tell her?”

“The truth.”

Arthur looked deep in thought. “But what I’m wondering is how she knows about Yao.”

“That’s something you probably should find out, my prince.”

***

_Natalia stepped out of the horse-drawn carriage she was riding and sniffed the air. It smelled calm. It smelled like a garden of sunflowers. She liked sunflowers._

_Natalia entered the Royal Palace gracefully and with poise. She nodded politely at the guards who saluted her._

_Then Natalia saw it – the ballroom where the event was taking place. Wordlessly, she moved into the ballroom._

_The ballroom was bright. The guests were arriving. Some of them were busy talking to one another._

_Natalia caught sight of Prince Arthur at the back of the ballroom. He was talking quietly to Ludwig. His demeanour was solemn._

_Natalia approached the prince and curtsied deeply. “Prince Arthur, I am so sorry for the death of your friend, Yao. I offer my most sincere condolences.”_

At that point in time, Natalia’s eyes shot open. She sat up, briefly wondering where she was. When she realised she was in her bedroom, she sighed. It was a delightful dream while it lasted.

Nonetheless, Natalia smiled to herself.

_I can make that happen. I will make that happen._

* * *

When Yao got to work, he found a bouquet of fire lilies sitting on his desk.

 _Are these for me?_ Yao wondered. He looked around to see who might have delivered them, but the office was empty, save for a graduate student working on her desk.

“Lili,” Yao spoke up.

The graduate student looked from her work at Yao. “Yeah?”

“Do you know if this is for me?” Yao held out the bouquet of fire lilies.

“Oh yes!” Lili gushed. “They ARE for you! Early this morning, a delivery boy came in and asked me where you sat, so I directed him to your desk. Why?”

“Nothing…” said Yao, lifting the bouquet high and rotating it around, looking for an indication of the sender. “It doesn’t have any note, so I don’t know who it’s from.”

“Oh, how romantic!” Lili cooed. “You have a secret admirer!”

The firebender turned red at that statement. “I highly doubt so, aru,” he mumbled, turning back to his desk.

Who could have sent them? Yao was puzzled. He had to wonder if the sender knew the connotation of fire lilies in the Fire Nation – it was generally used as a declaration of love between lovers, typically used to win over the heart of the person the lilies were sent to. What more, fire lilies were only native to the Fire Nation; they couldn’t grow in the Earth Kingdom, so the sender had to have imported them, and thus, it would have cost a lot of money. Who had that kind of money to spend on Yao?

* * *

Arthur thought that Natalia’s behaviour was rather strange, and so he had made it a quest to find out what she was up to. He had requested a palace guard who was excellent in espionage to secretly follow Natalia around.

But apparently, the guard reported that Natalia was not doing anything suspicious, and was merely going about her daily business.

Arthur didn’t know whether to feel relieved or not.


	10. Chapter 10

Yao was making his way home from the university. It was quite a distance to walk, but Yao didn’t mind – he usually enjoyed the quiet walk home; at least he could have some time to himself to think and reflect on the day.

However, that day, Yao could sense another aura that seemed to be following him. But he couldn’t pinpoint as to who the aura belonged to. It was also quite ambiguous – Yao didn’t know if it was a peaceful aura or a malicious aura.

Yao glanced to his left to see if the stranger would reveal himself. He looked to the other side.

Yet, there was no one.

Yao was beginning to get very nervous. Should he head back to the university where there’d be a crowd in order to safeguard him from this stranger, who most likely had wicked intentions?

Just as Yao was turning to go back to the university, he felt a pressure on the back of his neck and the lower part of his spine. Immediately, his knees went weak, and he gave a cry as he collapsed to the ground.

Yao tried to haul himself to his feet, but they wouldn’t obey him. This sensation was new to him, and it scared him, being so helpless.

Yao looked up to see a tall figure looming over him. He was wearing a mask, and the sunlight that was streaming down prevented Yao from properly gauging his features. Yao had to shield his eyes from the sun with his hand to avoid blinding himself.

“I see from your reaction that you’ve never been chi-blocked before,” the figure commented.

 _Chi-blocked?_ Yao squinted at the stranger. Was that what had happened to him?

“No matter. This makes my job a lot easier.”

Without warning, the unknown person threw a fistful of powder at Yao’s face.

It was then Yao knew no more.

* * *

Natalia was in her parents’ blacksmith workshop, awaiting Toris’ delivery of Yao to her. Toris was an acquaintance of Ivan’s – they had gone to school together, and still kept in contact with one another after graduating.

Natalia had everything planned out already. She was going to enjoy slowly killing the firebender and then bleeding him out. A friend told Natalia that he needed the blood from a firebender for a poison he was concocting, and since was already planning on killing Yao, she thought she would help her friend out and provide the blood he needed.

The door to the workshop burst open.

Natalia immediately looked up from where she was seated to see Toris and his partner, Feliks enter. Feliks was carrying an unconscious Yao inside.

“We’ve settled our end of the deal,” said Toris as Feliks threw Yao on the ground in front of Natalia. “Now give us our money so that we can be on our way.”

“Not so fast,” Natalia said serenely. “Help me secure him.”

Toris scowled. He was clearly upset that he was forced to do more work for Natalia. “Where?”

Natalia pointed to the ceiling in the centre of the workshop. There was a hook attached to the ceiling, and a long string of rope dangling in straight line from it.

Feliks frowned at the set-up. “Like, what do you want us to do?”

“Just use that rope to tie his hands together above his head.”

Toris and Feliks hoisted Yao bonelessly from the ground. Yao was surprisingly light, and there was no effort in manoeuvring his body below the hook and tying his hands together.

When Toris and Feliks were done, Yao’s body hung limply from his wrists bound together with the rope tied to the hook on the ceiling. He was in a kneeling position, and his body was slumped towards the floor, since he was unconscious and unable to support himself.

“Now tie his legs together,” ordered Natalia, holding out a long piece of rope to Toris and Feliks.

Toris grunted, while Feliks glared at Natalia. “It would like, help if you were a bit nicer to us, you know.”

Natalia rolled her eyes and glared at Feliks coldly. “Whatever.”

Toris placed a placating hand on Feliks’ shoulder, and looked warningly at him. _Don’t piss her off, or we might be the next people at the end of this rope!_

Feliks got Toris’ message, and clamped his mouth shut. Although a bit grudgingly.

Toris took the rope from Natalia and proceeded to bind Yao’s legs together. As soon as he was done, he stood up. “That’s it. We’re done,” he told Natalia.

“Good, good…” Natalia said, smiling somewhat evilly. She walked towards Yao, and circled around his body, surveying Toris and Feliks’ work. After a moment, she beamed at Toris. “Well, good job, boys. Your money is outside, in an envelope placed behind the door at the back of this workshop.”

Toris nodded, and then wordlessly, led Feliks out of the workshop and out of Natalia’s life.

Natalia watched as Toris and Feliks walked out of her parents’ workshop. Then, her attention shifted to the still unconscious Yao, hanging piteously from the ceiling. Natalia’s wicked smile got wider as she thought about what she was about to do to the firebender in front of her. She was going to enjoy every second of torturing Yao.


	11. Chapter 11

Arthur had not given up on finding out what Natalia was up to. Her behaviour lately was just plain weird and was not like her at all – Arthur knew something was up with her. He just needed to find out what exactly was up.

Arthur had dismissed Ludwig for the day and was now out of the Royal Palace.

In fact, Arthur was talking to Natalia’s sister, Irina. She told him that Natalia had recently been out of sorts during the past months, and that she was beginning to get very worried about her sister’s well-being. But Natalia didn’t reveal much to her about what she was up to, and that the person to talk to if Arthur wanted to know more about what Natalia was doing was their brother, Ivan. Natalia was a lot closer to Ivan and told him practically everything.

Therefore, later, the evening found Arthur searching high and low for Ivan.

* * *

When Yao came to, he realised he was very uncomfortable. His body was stiff and in pain, probably because he was still chi-blocked.

Yao slowly opened his eyes, and to his dismay, found that he could not move. Yao looked up to discover that he hung from his wrists, which were tied together with a rope hanging from a hook attached to the ceiling. His ankles were bound together as well, limiting his mobility even more.

Yao’s heart was beating rapidly. Where was he? How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was the stranger who had chi-blocked him throwing some sort of powder in his face. Had Yao been taken here by the chi-blocker?

Yao looked around him. He noticed various iron objects and gadgets hanging on the wall. Perhaps he was in a blacksmith’s shop?

Yao knew that he could not firebend his way out of this. For one, he was chi-blocked. For another, his movements were restrained, so even if he could firebend, he couldn’t move to produce fire.

“Oh, I see you are awake,” an artificially sweet voice that belonged to a female spoke up from the door.

Yao’s head shot up towards the owner of the voice. She was walking slowly towards him now.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” the woman enquired. “Most people would be demanding to know where they are or how they got here by now.”

Yao remained silent. He was trying to assess the lady’s intentions.

The woman laughed. Her laugh sounded ugly, and Yao cringed at the sound of her laughter. “Since I’m going to rid the world of you, you might as well know who I am, right?”

Yao’s eyes widened in horror. She was going to kill him? What had he done to deserve her wrath?

The woman snorted as she looked at Yao’s expression. “My name is Natalia. I have known Prince Arthur since we were very young,” she told Yao.

 _Prince? Arthur?_ Yao’s eyes widened considerably. He couldn’t believe his ears. The friend he had made was the prince?

Natalia turned her back towards Yao. “Recently, I have found that Prince Arthur has been distant and cold towards me. Do you know why?”

Yao bowed his head. He was still trying to digest the fact that Arthur, the man who had spied on him while he was practicing his firebending, was a prince.

“Because he has fallen in love with you!” Natalia whirled around and glared at Yao with utmost loathing.

 _What?_ Yao blinked. He was shocked at this revelation.

“He can’t fall in love with you!” Natalia screamed, drawing nearer to Yao. “He has to fall in love with me! He has to marry me so that I can become Earth Queen!!”

Yao flinched when Natalia grabbed the front of his shirt and shook him violently.

“I’m sorry, but that means I have to get rid of you. You have to die.”

Natalia walked towards the table in a corner of the workshop. She picked up an object that looked like a whip with a very fat thong. Natalia stroked it and gazed at it tenderly before she turned around to face Yao.

“I usually use this when I help drive the cattle,” Natalia said conversationally, sauntering towards Yao. She positioned herself behind Yao, stroking the back of Yao’s neck gently. Then, without warning, she ripped the shirt Yao was wearing down the back. “But of course, it’s just to scare them. Because if I used it on them…”

There was a thunderous crack of the whip on Yao’s back, near his waist area. As the whip hit him, Yao could feel his flesh tearing open, and it took all his energy not to scream in pain.

“It would destroy their hide,” said Natalia, grinning evilly. She watched in fascination at the fresh wound on Yao’s back. She inhaled and exhaled excitedly as she watched blood appear from the ugly gash and began to drip slowly from it. Natalia smirked.

“Tell me.” Natalia lifted the whip again before slamming it down onto Yao’s body once again. This time the whip went over Yao’s back, making a deep laceration on him.

“What is it about you?”

By the third blow, Yao couldn’t keep his screams in any longer. It was much too painful. So, when the whip landed on Yao, he cried out.

“What is it about you that Prince Arthur likes?!”

“Why does he love you?”

“Why doesn’t he love me?!”

At one point, Natalia’s right hand got tired of beating Yao. She paused to shift her working hand before continuing to whip Yao.

Yao tried to breathe through the pain. The whipping and his flesh tearing open was painful, yes. But it did not compare to the throbbing agony that quickly followed after Natalia brought down the whip onto Yao’s body.

Passing out seemed very much preferable.

There was so much blood on the floor. Yao could see large spots of blood around his knees. Each time Natalia beat him, more blood would drip from the new wound the whip produced.

The pain was now so bad that Yao’s body was supported by the rope around his wrists. He no longer had the strength to hold himself up. Yao’s body had collapsed on itself.

By then, Yao’s screams had become quite impressive. He was starting to cry from the pain. Tears were streaming down his face and onto the floor, mixing with his blood.

Yao was close to passing out. His body felt very heavy.

Natalia delivered one last blow that hit Yao in the face.

And then all Yao saw was black.


	12. Chapter 12

Natalia was breathing heavily from the exertion. But her eyes were shining brightly in glee.

Yao had blacked out a little while ago, but Natalia did not stop beating him until she was sure he was totally out of it.

Natalia decided that it was currently the perfect time to bleed Yao out and collect his blood. There was a lot of Yao’s blood on the floor, and briefly, Natalia regretted spilling so much blood. But her regret was short-lived when she thought about how Arthur was going to be only hers very soon.

_You aren’t going to wake up anymore._

* * *

Arthur had just spoken to Ivan. According to Ivan, Natalia was planning something horrible on Yao because she had found out that Arthur had fallen in love with the firebender. But Ivan didn’t reveal what exactly she was planning. He told Arthur that Natalia was using their parents’ blacksmith workshop to do the deed, but declined Arthur’s offer for him to come and stop his sister.

“Are you crazy?!” Ivan had yelled at Arthur with a fearful look in his eyes. “She’ll kill me first!”

So Arthur was making his way to Ivan’s family’s blacksmith workshop.

It was silent. A little too silent.

With all his might, Arthur kicked open the door. The door broke from its hinges and landed on the ground, in front of Natalia, who was staring at Arthur in surprise.

“Prince Arthur?!” Natalia gasped. “What-?”

Then, Arthur caught sight of the bloody figure only two feet in front of him. Yao was on his knees, hanging from a rope by his wrists. His hair was matted with dry blood; what was not tied up in his now very lose ponytail was stuck to the side of his face with blood. The shirt Yao was wearing was torn from the back, and now just barely covered his chest area. Yao’s head was hanging down, his face cast in shadow. The floor was splattered with large pools of thickening blood.

This horrible sight was etched in Arthur’s memory forever.

It was then Arthur saw red.

Arthur turned towards Natalia in fury. “How could you-?!” he demanded.

Natalia took a step forward. “It was for you, Prince Arthur, my love!” she cried desperately. “It was for you to love me!”

Arthur shook his head and stared at Natalia in disbelief. This wasn’t the Natalia he knew. This was a whole other person.

With his earthbending, Arthur created a pillar that appeared from below Natalia. It lifted Natalia, travelling quickly towards the ceiling, before slamming her into the ceiling. When the pillar collapsed to the ground, Natalia also fell to the floor. She had been knocked out.

Arthur quickly ran towards Yao and knelt down in front of him. Arthur ran his palm on the side of Yao’s cheek.

“Yao?” Arthur had to check if Yao was somehow still conscious. He winced at the deep gash on Yao’s right cheek.

There was no reply, and Yao’s golden-brown eyes remained closed.

Arthur reached up and undid the knots in the rope around Yao’s hands. He found that whoever had tied Yao’s wrists together did a very good job – Arthur had to resort to using a knife he carried around for emergency purposes to cut the rope.

When the rope was cut, Yao collapsed against Arthur, as he no longer had the rope holding his body upright.

Arthur then freed Yao’s ankles.

Arthur peeled Yao’s blood-soaked shirt off his skin and threw the remains of Yao’s shirt aside. Arthur winced at the extent of the cuts and slashes on Yao’s skin. A tear managed to escape Arthur’s eye when he thought of the suffering and pain Yao had gone through just because of him. Just because he had fallen in love with the firebender.

Arthur gathered Yao into his arms. It didn’t matter that Yao was bleeding so profusely and that the front of Arthur’s clothes were now soaked with blood. Yao needed medical help now, and the best doctor Arthur knew was in the Royal Palace.

Arthur raced out of the blacksmith workshop and headed to the Royal Palace.

On the way back home, Arthur passed a Dai Li agent who was just going home from work. Arthur figured that the Dai Li were the closest things he could get to a policeman right now, so he relayed the entire situation to the Dai Li agent, and told him where he could apprehend Natalia.

Then, Arthur continued on his journey to the Royal Palace. He was aware that Yao’s blood was dripping from his wounds and that they were leaving behind a trail of blood, but Arthur didn’t care. Yao’s body was getting colder by the minute, and that terrified Arthur. Was Yao dying?

Arthur burst into the palace infirmary, where the Queen was talking quietly to a doctor.

“Dr Roderich!” yelled Arthur frantically.

“Arthur!” the Queen cried. She looked scandalised at the state her son was in – bloody and out of breath.

“Dr Roderich… please,” Arthur cradled Yao to his chest. “Please help him…”

Dr Roderich’s eyes widened when he saw what was in Arthur’s arms. He wanted to ask what happened to the young man in the prince’s arms, but refrained from doing so because the prince was so breathless.

“Arthur, who is that?!” the Queen asked. She was horrified at the amount of blood spilling out of the body in Arthur’s arms.

“Please save him,” begged Arthur. His eyes did not leave Dr Roderich’s. “… Because I love him…”

Needless to say, the Queen was surprised by Arthur’s confession. Then, her expression softened and she helped to pry Arthur’s arms away from Yao so that Dr Roderich could get Yao onto an infirmary bed.

“Don’t worry, Prince Arthur,” Dr Roderich told Arthur. “I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you,” gasped Arthur.

It was when Dr Roderich had wheeled Yao into the treatment room that Arthur’s knees gave out and he collapsed to the ground. Immediately, his mother was by his side to help him up and onto a chair.

There was a moment of silence between the Queen and her son. Arthur was still recovering from his run all the way to the palace.

As soon as Arthur had finally caught his breath, the Queen finally spoke up. “So who was that and what happened to him?”

Arthur looked grimly at his mother. “It’s quite a long story,” he said.

The Queen smiled gently. “I have the time.”

So Arthur told his mother how he met Yao when he caught Yao apprehending a robber, how he had fallen for Yao, how Yao had sensed his aura when he was spying on Yao, how as they spent time together Arthur found himself falling more and more in love with Yao. Then, Arthur told his mother about Natalia, and her quest to become Earth Queen. Arthur told his mother that Natalia wanted Yao to die so that Yao would be out of the picture and that Arthur would only love her.

After Arthur was done talking, the Queen was looking at her son sadly.

No words were said between them for a long while.

Finally the Queen spoke up. “I’m sure Yao will be fine,” she said. “Dr Roderich is the best doctor around – he’ll save Yao.”

Arthur looked at his mother gratefully. “I hope so,” he said in a small voice.

The Queen smiled. “I know so,” she replied. “Why don’t you go and change your clothes first? You look a mess!”

“But…” Arthur glanced unsurely at the treatment room door. “I don’t want to leave, just in case…”

“I’ll be here until you return,” the Queen said. “Don’t worry – if anything happens, I’m here. I’ll be the first to know.”

“Okay…”

* * *

Later, slightly after midnight, Dr Roderich appeared from the treatment room. He had blood stains on his hands and coat, but he looked satisfied. He had managed to stitch up the deeper gashes on the firebender’s body and bandage them all up, preventing any more blood loss.

Arthur was snoozing, slumped over a bed. The Queen was nowhere to be seen. She had probably decided to give her son some privacy and gone to bed.

“Prince?” Dr Roderich gently placed a hand on Arthur’s back. “Prince?”

“Huh?” Arthur jerked awake. He blinked blearily at his surroundings before realising where he was and remembering what had happened. “Doctor? Doctor!” Arthur shot up from his seat and grabbed the doctor’s shoulders. “Is Yao okay?!”

Dr Roderich gave a gentle smile. “He’s going to be fine – he’s alive,” he told Arthur. “I’ve stitched up the deeper lacerations, and cleaned and bandaged up the smaller ones, so he is in no danger of an infection. But…”

“But what?”

“He’s lost a lot of blood, Prince Arthur. I wouldn’t expect him to be conscious anytime soon.”

“Oh,” Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. “But he’s okay… he’s going to live,” he said mostly to himself. “Thank god… Can I… can I go in and see him?”

Dr Roderich shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” he said. “If you need me, you know where to find me.”

“Thanks. Thanks so much, doctor!”

When Arthur entered to treatment room, where Yao lay. Arthur couldn’t help letting out a soft gasp while he saw the state Yao was in.

Yao was not wearing a shirt, as the one he had been wearing was ripped to shreds and Arthur had discarded it. And it looked like Dr Roderich had not bothered to put one on Yao just yet. Yao was lying on his front, as most of the wounds were on his back, and Dr Roderich probably didn’t want to put any additional pressure on them. The top half of Yao’s back that had been subject to the violent whipping was covered in bandages. There were a few stray gauze bandages on Yao’s face. His hair that was previously matted with his dry blood was now void of blood, and was loose; Dr Roderich must have released it from the ponytail and cleaned the blood away.

Arthur sat down on the chair beside the bed, facing Yao’s face that was turned to his left. He ran his fingers lightly over Yao’s cheek. He wondered if Yao’s injuries would scar. But it didn’t matter. Arthur was sure that he’d still love Yao even if Yao were horribly disfigured. It wasn’t just Yao’s looks that he was attracted to; it was Yao’s soul that he was drawn to.

“I’m sorry, Yao,” Arthur whispered.

Arthur unfolded a blanket from the foot of the bed and laid it over Yao’s body.

Then, Arthur kissed Yao tenderly on the forehead. He laid his head down next to Yao’s and promptly fell asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

The next day, Yao was transferred to a more comfortable place within the infirmary.

The day after that, Yao’s siblings came to the Royal Palace to see him. Arthur thought that they must have been very worried about him, and so he had sent word to them, saying that Yao was in the palace infirmary and that they could come and see him anytime.

Arthur met Yao’s siblings at the entrance of the Royal Palace, and Kiku immediately launched into a tirade, scolding Arthur for keeping the fact that he was a prince from them.

Arthur lowered his head deeply in apology.

When Yao’s brothers and sister stepped into the Royal Palace, they instantly felt a sense of awe and nervousness.

Yong Soo couldn’t help touching everything, from the walls to the decorative vases on display. He even poked a guard to make sure he was a living human being.

Arthur took Yao’s siblings to the infirmary, where Yao was housed. Arthur ushered them inside and told them to inform the guard if they needed anything as he would be leaving them alone for a while. He would grant them some privacy as they visited Yao.

Then, Arthur walked out and closed the door behind him.

* * *

On the third day, Yao regained consciousness. Much to Arthur’s delight, he observed that the colour of Yao’s skin was also looking better – that meant that his body was replenishing his blood supply.

Yao let out an inaudible sigh as he came out of his coma.

Since the infirmary was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop, Arthur immediately perked up as soon as Yao made the sound. He had been reading by Yao’s bedside, and put his book down, drawing nearer to the bed. He even pulled his chair closer to Yao.

Slowly, Yao opened an eye.

“Yao?” Arthur excitedly said. “Yao? Can you hear me?”

Yao’s other eye opened. He blinked once. Then he whispered, “Yes.”

“That’s good,” Arthur said, beaming. He brushed a lock of Yao’s hair back.

Yao looked at Arthur with tired, half-lidded eyes. He remembered something Natalia had said, and he wanted to confirm it with Arthur. “Arthur… are you the prince, aru?” Yao asked quietly.

Arthur stared at Yao for a moment. Well, it was time to let the cat out of the bag. “Yes, I am the crown prince of this kingdom,” he admitted slowly. “You are currently in the Royal Palace.”

“You told me you were in the military,” stated Yao.

“That is… also true,” replied Arthur. “I do have military duties.”

“Why… why didn’t you tell me the whole truth?”

“That I am the prince?” Arthur shrugged. “I don’t know… I was afraid that I would intimidate you with my status and you never wanted to see me again.”

Yao tried to chuckle, but his ribs hurt too much. He ended up coughing. “I am intimidated, yes…” Yao confessed softly. “But I would never not want to see you.”

Arthur’s eyes brightened. “Really?”

“Really, aru.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Arthur replied, smiling a wide smile. He took Yao’s hand in his. “How are you feeling, by the way?”

Yao looked at his hand in Arthur’s strangely. Then he gazed at Arthur. “Pretty sore,” he said. “I feel like a herd of horses has trampled over me.”

“Do you need anything?”

“No…” Yao said quietly. “But there’s something else Natalia told me that I want to confirm.”

Arthur looked at Yao questioningly.

“She told me that…” Yao hesitated, trying to evaluate Arthur’s facial expression. “She told me that you loved me.”

There was a pregnant pause as Arthur and Yao stared at each other.

Finally, Arthur opened his mouth to speak. “Yes,” he admitted. “I have fallen in love with you since the day I saw you apprehend that robber in the marketplace.”

Yao’s expression relaxed.

“Do you… Do you think I might have a chance at being your lover?” asked Arthur in a small voice.

Yao smiled gently at Arthur. His gaze upon Arthur was soft. “Yes,” he replied. Yao didn’t have time to think about it when Natalia was flogging him, but he had been dreaming about it when he was unconscious, and he was sure that he was very fond of Arthur. Perhaps even to the brink of having loving feelings towards Arthur too.

Arthur looked elated at Yao’s answer. “Can I kiss you?”

Yao turned pink. Nevertheless, he gave Arthur a slight nod.

Arthur knew that Yao was not capable of moving. He didn’t want Yao to move, in the first place, anyway. Arthur leaned forward to plant a chaste kiss on Yao’s lips.

When Arthur lifted his face from Yao’s, Yao was bright red, but he was looking at Arthur affectionately.

Arthur was still smiling. “I guess this makes you my boyfriend now,” he said cockily.

Yao smiled shyly. He brought a shaky hand up to stroke Arthur’s left cheek. “I would hope so, aru.”

Happily, Arthur kissed Yao again. He could do this forever.


	14. Chapter 14

A few days later, Yao was feeling less sore, and was able to get up and walk. But he was still confined to the infirmary because Dr Roderich didn’t want Yao going around the palace and stressing himself out. He didn’t let Yao go home either – he wanted to monitor Yao’s recovery and to treat his wounds himself. Dr Roderich was indeed a meticulous doctor.

The firebender was sitting in bed, eating a bowl of jook Dr Roderich has instructed the cooks to make for Yao, when Arthur entered the infirmary, holding a bouquet of moon flowers. “Hello” he greeted Yao happily. “I thought I’d brighten up this dreary place with some flowers!”

It was then Yao remembered the bouquet of fire lilies he had received at work. Come to think of it, he never found out who had sent them. “Did you, by any chance, send me fire lilies?”

Arthur stopped in his tracks. He had totally forgotten about it! “Yeah,” he said sheepishly. “Did you like them?”

Yao smiled. “They were beautiful,” he said. “But do you know why people give one another fire lilies in the Fire Nation?”

Arthur took an empty vase on Yao’s side table and placed the moon flowers in it. “Something about love, right? You give fire lilies to the person you like, so that he or she may fall for you.”

Yao grinned at the prince. “I’m impressed, aru. You did your research.”

“Hey, I was trying to court a Fire Nation citizen!” exclaimed Arthur. “Of course I had to do my research!”

Yao laughed. “That’s what I love about you, you know.”

“Hm?”

“When you do something, you’re so passionate about it that you go all out to do it well.”

Arthur’s thick eyebrows shot up, and he wagged them suggestively. “Does that make me a passionate lover as well?”

Yao winked playfully at Arthur. “I don’t know, aru. Perhaps you have to prove to me that you are one.”

“Hm,” Arthur mused. “I guess I will.”

* * *

Later in the day, Yao’s siblings went to the palace again to visit him. Now that he was conscious and capable of holding a conversation, they were pretty excited about it.

Yong Soo’s loud chattering voice could be heard through the corridor even before he and his siblings reached the infirmary. As soon as the infirmary door burst open, Yong Soo ran towards his oldest brother with a cry, “Broootheeeerrr!!”

Yao was unprepared for Yong Soo jumping on him and engulfing him in a massive hug.

Both Yao and Yong Soo landed in a heap on Yao’s bed.

Kiku sighed, while Mei and Hong Kong looked on in amusement.

When Yong Soo had finally detached himself from his oldest brother, Kiku, Mei and Hong Kong were decently and respectably seated on chairs a nurse had brought out for them.

“Brother Yong Soo,” said Hong Kong, patting the empty seat beside him. “Come and like, sit down. We don’t want to aggravate big brother’s wounds, right?”

“Yeah, please behave yourself,” admonished Kiku, “We are in the Royal Palace!” he hissed.

Yong Soo pouted. Nonetheless, he made his way to the chair beside Hong Kong and promptly plopped himself down on it.

Kiku then turned to Yao to speak with him. “How are you feeling, brother?”

“How is it staying in the palace?” chirped Mei. “I bet it’s awesome – having servants around to attend to you!”

“Uh.” Yao glanced at his siblings one by one. “I’m feeling better. A lot better than when I first woke up, aru. Dr Roderich has been a great help in his treatment and washing the wounds.”

“Have you gotten to see most of the palace yet?” Mei asked excitedly. “Can you give me a tour?”

Yao laughed at his sister’s enthusiasm. “I actually haven’t been out of this infirmary, aru. Dr Roderich doesn’t want me going anywhere…” he grumbled. “But if you want, I can ask Art-” Yao coughed to make up for his error. “The prince to bring you around.”

But Yao’s siblings caught Yao’s mistake instantly.

“You can address the prince by his name?!” Mei squealed.

“What is your relationship with the prince?” Kiku piped in.

“Yeah, it was the prince who told us everything,” observed Hong Kong.

“Don’t keep anything from us, brother!” wailed Yong Soo.

For a moment, Yao looked like a deer caught in headlights. His eyes eventually softened. “I can’t keep anything a secret with you guys, can I?” he smiled affectionately at his siblings. “The prince and I… well, we’re now dating.”

“Oh!” Mei clasped her hands together and swooned dramatically. “How romantic! A royal romance! What more, involving our naggy oldest brother!”

“This will like, make headlines once the newspapers get hold of it,” said Hong Kong.

Yao watched his siblings as they prattled among themselves at the revelation that their brother and the prince were an item. Quietly, he smiled to himself – he truly missed listening to his siblings’ voices together.


	15. Chapter 15

There was no trial for Natalia. Her actions were unmistakeably that of a crazy person. The royal psychiatrist even deemed her psychologically unstable, and she was sentenced to be retained in a mental institution until she was fit enough to go back into the outside world.

Arthur decided to accompany Ivan to check his sister into the psychiatric institution. After all, Arthur felt partly responsible for Natalia’s descent into madness – it was because of Natalia’s obsession with Arthur that she became that way.

When Ivan passed the last of the paperwork back to the clerk on duty, he turned towards Arthur with a thankful expression. “Thank you, Prince,” he said.

Arthur blanched. It was because of him that Natalia had to be imprisoned in this place. What the hell was Ivan thanking him for?

When Arthur didn’t reply. Ivan decided to elaborate. “I have known that my sister was mentally unstable for a while now,” he explained. “I have encouraged her to seek help, but she has always brushed me off. But now… after what she did, she clearly needs help.”

Arthur watched Ivan as he picked up his bag to leave the reception’s office.

“I’m just very sorry it took someone getting terribly injured in the process,” Ivan finished. “How is he, by the way?”

Arthur walked out with Ivan. “He’s alright – recovering slowly. The palace doctor has allowed him to go home yesterday, so he’s happy.”

“What about… the scarring?”

Arthur wanted to retort and say that he didn’t care about the scars and that he would still love Yao. But then, he realised that that wasn’t what Ivan meant. Ivan didn’t even know that Arthur and Yao were in a relationship – it had not been made official yet. Ivan felt guilty that it was because of his sister that Yao would now have scars on his body. “The wounds haven’t completely healed, so we don’t know for sure… but based on the depth of the lacerations the whip made, I think it’s safe to say that there WILL be some scarring.”

Ivan gazed sadly at Arthur. “I’m so sorry.”

Arthur waved a hand. “What’s done is done. Don’t fret about it anymore.”

Arthur and Ivan exited the psychiatric institution, where Ludwig was waiting for Arthur. Arthur and Ivan said their goodbyes before departing.

“Where to now, my prince?” Ludwig enquired, taking a step towards Arthur.

“I was thinking we could get some lunch for Yao – I know he’s not up for walking long distances just yet,” said Arthur thoughtfully. “Then later, we can go on a date while you bugger off somewhere?” Arthur grinned good-naturedly at his guard.

Ludwig laughed. “You can’t get rid of me that easily, my prince,” he told Arthur. “I will give you lovebirds your privacy, but I’ll be watching you from a distance.”

“Good enough for me!”

* * *

True to Hong Kong’s word, when the newspapers eventually got hold of the news that Arthur and Yao were a couple, they went crazy. Yao became an instant celebrity overnight.

The reporters stalked Yao, and reported his every move. It overwhelmed Yao.

It got so bad that Arthur appointed a guard to follow Yao around and dispose of the nosy reporters.

Arthur also constantly brought Yao to the Royal Palace to escape the reporters, as it was the one place they could not enter and exit freely.

The Queen had grown rather fond of Yao as well, and would personally meet with him whenever he was in the palace and whenever she had the time. Personally, she thought that anyone who could win the heart of her grumpy and choosy “Artie” deserved her utmost respect.

Arthur and Yao were in the palace garden, enjoying the scenery and the breeze.

“Maybe we can visit the Fire Nation one day, just you and me,” said Arthur offhandedly.

Yao didn’t reply.

Arthur turned his head and peered at Yao. Yao had fallen asleep, with his head resting on Arthur’s shoulder.

Arthur smiled affectionately. Although Yao’s recovery was going well, it was taking a while. While he sometimes still felt sore, most of his wounds had closed up. Much to everyone’s delight, the scarring wasn’t even that bad – yes, there were scars that had resulted from the lashing Natalia gave Yao, but they weren’t very obvious. The deeper gashes had produced a few more prominent scars, but those could be easily hidden by the clothes Yao wore. Arthur ran his thumb over a small scar on Yao’s right cheek, that couldn’t be seen but could be felt.

But Yao also often found himself tired, and would drift off to sleep at random times. This was why the professor at the university had granted Yao an indefinite leave from work – even though Yao claimed that he was fit to work, his falling asleep was a hazard in the lab.

But Arthur didn’t complain. It gave him more time to spend with Yao. Besides, Arthur thought a sleeping Yao was an adorable Yao. He revelled in moments where he could just stare at Yao for an indefinite period of time.

Arthur brushed a lock of Yao’s fringe back, and kissed the firebender tenderly on the top of his head.

“I love you,” Arthur whispered.


	16. Chapter 16

It was Yao’s first public appearance as Arthur’s boyfriend. Ever since their relationship was made known to the Earth Kingdom citizens, Yao had not been introduced publicly yet.

A palace maid was helping Yao put on his formal clothes. She was very good – she was very gentle, and avoided touching the remaining bandage on a particularly large wound on Yao’s back.

Arthur poked his head into the room. “It’s almost time to go – are you done?”

Yao swerved around to face Arthur. “Do I look okay, aru?” he asked nervously. “I have never been to an Earth Kingdom function wearing such… formal clothes.”

“You look spectacular,” the maid told Yao, as she stood up and dusted her clothes down.

Arthur smiled. “She’s right – you look great. The clothes suit you well.”

Yao blushed and twirled around, examining himself in the full-length mirror. “You think so, aru? I’m not used to having green and yellow on me; I’m so used to wearing red…”

Arthur sauntered towards Yao and wrapped his arms around Yao’s small waist. “That’s what makes what you’re wearing so special,” he murmured into Yao’s ear.

There was an unmistakable giggling as the maid left the room.

Arthur took Yao’s hand. “Come on, let’s head out. The ball’s starting soon, and I’m supposed to initiate the first dance – without me, no one would get to dance tonight.”

“I’m nervous,” Yao said quietly.

Arthur squeezed Yao’s hand encouragingly. “Don’t be,” he told Yao. “Just be yourself. The people will love you.”

“I hope I don’t embarrass you. I’m not the best at dancing.”

Arthur kissed Yao softly on the lips. “You won’t. Just follow my lead.”

Silently, Arthur and Yao made their way to the stairs that led to the ballroom. They stood side by side at the top of the stairs, and Arthur briefly let go of Yao’s hand.

As soon as the announcer bellowed, “Presenting Prince Arthur and his partner, Master Yao!”, Arthur turned to face Yao. He held out his hand and bowed towards Yao.

Yao paused for a bit, but he took Arthur’s hand.

Smiling charmingly at Yao, Arthur turned back to the crowd gathered below them. He slowly led Yao down the stairs.

Arthur and Yao stepped off the last step and entered the ballroom. Then, the music began.

Arthur positioned himself to lead the dance, while Yao matched himself into Arthur’s arms. Arthur blinked – he was surprised at how well they fit together. Nonetheless, he began dancing.

Yao followed Arthur’s steps.

Slowly but surely, members of the crowd began joining the royal couple on the dance floor.

As soon as a sizeable crowd was dancing, Arthur leaned forward and whispered into Yao’s ear, “You want to go somewhere quieter? I can have someone bring us some food.”

“O-okay…” replied Yao. “But won’t your parents be pissed that you’re disappearing so early, aru?”

Arthur sniggered. “No, they won’t. I do this every year – initiate the dance with a girl my mother has chosen, and then make myself scarce.”

“Okay then, if it’s alright.”

“It’s definitely alright. We’ll come back later to mingle for a bit, when everyone’s sick of dancing.”

They stopped dancing. But Arthur did not let go of Yao’s hand. Arthur’s hand clasped Yao’s, and they went outside.

Ludwig was standing at the exit. “Where are you going, my prince?”

Arthur shot Ludwig a cocky expression. “Where I go every year,” he replied. “Could you get some food sent over?”

“Of course, my prince.”

“And don’t forget the egg custard tarts!”

Ludwig rolled his eyes. It was a widely known fact that egg custard tarts were the prince’s favourite dessert. “Yes.”

“Come on!” Arthur pulled Yao along as he jogged towards his destination.

Arthur led Yao through the palace garden to the edge of the Royal Palace grounds. A lonely swing was bathed in the moonlight.

Yao was puzzled. “You come here every year during the ball, aru?!”

“Yeah,” Arthur admitted, scratching his head sheepishly. “I don’t really like big crowds, so I avoid them as much as I can. I usually just fall asleep on the swing until Ludwig comes and gets me just before the ball ends to socialise with the guests for a bit, but this year, I have you to keep me company.”

Yao hid a smile behind his hand. “Glad to be of service.”

Arthur stepped onto the swing first, and then extended his hand for Yao to take. Yao took Arthur’s hand; immediately, he was pulled onto the swing.

After Arthur and Yao were seated and settled on the swing, and the swing was gently rocking back and forth, Arthur placed an arm around Yao’s waist and kissed Yao’s cheek.

Yao was still rather shy about public displays of affection, and even though Arthur and Yao were alone, there was this nagging fear in Yao’s mind that anyone could appear and catch them at it. So Yao didn’t respond. Instead, he looked around at the greenery and flora surrounding them. “It’s beautiful,” he murmured unintentionally.

“You think so?” questioned Arthur. “These flowers belong to my mother – she does some gardening during her free time. I’ll be sure to let her know you think they are beautiful.”

“Does she choose the flowers that grow here?”

“Yes,” replied Arthur. “She even tries to cross-breed some of them. She says it’s interesting to see what comes out of cross-breeding the plants.”

“Well, they’re beautiful, aru,” said Yao.

It was then Ludwig emerged from within the Royal Palace with a cart of food. “I took a bit of each of the dishes that were served,” he told the couple. “I wasn’t sure which ones you favoured,” this was directed at Yao. Before Arthur could open his mouth, Ludwig continued. “And yes, my prince, I brought lots of egg custard tarts.”

Arthur laughed heartily. His guard knew him so well. “Thanks, Ludwig,” Arthur said. “You can go and enjoy the festivities. You are dismissed for the night.”

Ludwig nodded before turning around and walking away, leaving Arthur and Yao alone. The prince was safe in the Royal Palace – Ludwig needn’t worry.

There was a mild breeze blowing as Ludwig left. Arthur turned towards Yao. “Are you cold?” he asked worriedly. He knew that Fire Nation people generally preferred warmer temperatures, and that firebenders were less amenable towards the night, as their firebending was weaker then.

Yao shook his head. “No, I’m fine.”

Nevertheless, Arthur removed his coat and draped it over Yao’s shoulders. “Just in case,” he said softly with a gentle smile.

Then, Arthur made his way towards the cart of food Ludwig had brought. “Oh!” he exclaimed when he caught sight of a particular dish. “There’s roast duck! Do you want some?”

Yao nodded.

Arthur took some duck in a plate and brought it over to Yao. He settled himself beside Yao. They then began eating.


	17. Chapter 17

Yao had not been sleeping well. Ever since the prince had left the capital city to deal with a skirmish in the Earth Kingdom’s borders. Yao was worried that Arthur might injure himself, or even worse, get himself killed. He knew that it was unlikely, as Arthur was the prince, and had the highest level of protection, but Yao couldn’t help but worry.

Yao was nodding off over his lunch. Arthur, who was back for the weekend, frowned. Frankly, he was a little insulted; did Yao think he wasn’t observant enough to notice the slight slump in Yao’s usually perfect posture when he was with him, the worsening bags under Yao’s eyes from week to week, the stress in Yao’s voice? Of course Arthur did. And it worried him more than he’d like to admit.

“Yao?” Arthur took Yao’s hand and shook it.

There was no response.

“Yao?!” Arthur shook Yao’s hand harder, with more urgency.

Yao’s eyes jolted open.

“Yao, are you okay?”

Yao turned red. He was embarrassed at getting caught red-handed falling asleep. “I’m alright, aru.”

“No, you’re not,” said Arthur. “You fell asleep! Are you not sleeping at night?!”

“It’s nothing, really!” exclaimed Yao. He pulled his hand away from Arthur’s grasp. “Nothing for you to concern yourself about!”

“Yao,” Arthur said, sighing deeply. “I am your boyfriend. If there’s something bothering you, I want to know about it.” Arthur gazed into Yao’s brown eyes. “Don’t you trust me enough?”

Yao looked at Arthur with a distressed expression. “I do, aru!” he exclaimed. “I do trust you! But you have much more important matters to be worrying about than petty matters…”

Arthur’s lips curled into a tender smile, and he reached out to cup Yao’s chin with his hand. “I love you, Yao,” he told Yao. “Nothing about you can be petty to me.”

Yao stared at Arthur’s blazing green eyes. Eventually, he opened his mouth to speak. “I haven’t been sleeping well,” he told Arthur quietly. “I’m worried. About you.”

Arthur blinked. Yao was worried about him? “Is this… is this about the conflict?”

Yao nodded meekly. “I know I shouldn’t worry – I mean, you’re probably better protected than anyone else, but I cannot help it, aru!”

“Yao…”

Yao continued speaking. “As long as you’re away, I worry about you getting terribly injured!”

“Yao, Yao, Yao,” said Arthur as he grabbed Yao’s shoulders to calm the firebender down. “I’m a pretty good earthbender, if I dare say so myself. I’m not going to get hurt.”

“I know…”

“Besides, it’s only a minor conflict – some villagers are not happy about the way they are treated and the Earth Kingdom’s policies, that’s all. It’s nothing entirely serious – no one has gotten seriously injured.”

Yao was silent. He didn’t know what to say. He knew it was stupid of him to worry.

“Promise me you’ll get some sleep? I assure you – I’ll be fine.”

Yao glanced at Arthur with an unsure expression. “I can’t promise you that I’ll stop worrying,” he told Arthur. “But I’ll try to get some sleep, aru.”

Arthur frowned. He didn’t know how long more the skirmish would go on for. But it wasn’t good if Yao was not sleeping while he was away.

Yao ducked his head and dug into his lunch, under Arthur’s intense gaze.

* * *

The following week, when Arthur returned home for the weekend, he gave Yao a plushie he had knit and sewn all by himself.

“What is this for?” Yao asked, peering at the doll. It looked like a distorted version of a mini-Arthur – it had most of Arthur’s features, from his blond hair down to his emerald green eyes. It even wore the same yellow and green outfit Arthur was so often seen wearing. But it was cute, nonetheless.

“He’s me,” Arthur told Yao. “Well, I tried my best to make him look like me – I know he’s a bit off,” Arthur said bashfully. “He’s a bit of assurance that I’m alright. He’s going to take care of you and make sure you get your sleep while I’m away.”

“Wha-?”

“As long as you see him, as long as he’s in good condition, just know that I’m alright and you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I…” Yao stared at the plushie in his hands. Finally, he offered Arthur a big smile. “Okay,” he replied. “Thanks.”

“It’ll be over before you know it, and I’ll be back,” said Arthur.

Yao nodded. He grinned shyly at Arthur and planted a kiss on the toy’s cheek.

Arthur felt his heart melt.

* * *

Two months later, the scuffle had ended and Arthur was back in the capital city. Yao was immensely glad to see that Arthur was well and unharmed.

The most serious injury Arthur got was a broken wrist at the end of the war. He felt slightly annoyed that he couldn’t perform the daily tasks that he could perform easily before.

But Arthur secretly revelled in the attention he was getting from Yao. It seemed that Yao could be very motherly. He always made sure that Arthur was comfortable, fluffed up Arthur’s pillows in bed, cooked Arthur’s favourite soup, spoon-fed Arthur… It probably came from taking care of four rambunctious siblings. Well, three, if you didn’t count Kiku. Kiku didn’t seem like the lively type anyway.


	18. Chapter 18

It was New Year’s Eve. Arthur and Yao were sitting on the palace grounds, near the swing, waiting for midnight. As soon as the clock struck midnight, fireworks would appear in the sky to mark the new year.

Arthur had his fingers entwined with his lover’s. They said nothing, as they enjoyed the comfortable silence between them whilst waiting for the fireworks.

DING!

The sound of the main clock tower in the city sounded, indicating that it was midnight.

Immediately, a myriad of a colourful assortment of fireworks exploded in the sky.

Yao watched the fireworks display with childish fascination. Arthur, on the other hand, watched the beginning part of it; during the latter part, his attention shifted to gaze at Yao.

“Yao,” Arthur murmured softly.

“Hm?” Yao turned towards Arthur and looked at him questioningly.

Arthur pounced onto Yao, kissing him passionately. Arthur’s weight was weighing them down, and Yao found himself on his back on the ground with Arthur on top of him.

Arthur dislodged himself from Yao’s mouth. The fireworks were still being executed behind him. Yao had to admit that Arthur looked very handsome bathed in the glow of the lights from the fireworks. “Marry me?” Arthur said breathlessly.

Yao’s eyes widened considerably. Had Arthur just asked him to marry him? “What, aru?”

Arthur coughed once. “Will you marry me?”

For a moment, Yao gaped at Arthur. Arthur was looking so intently at him that he couldn’t speak. When Yao found his voice, he spoke. “I would… you know I would. But have you spoken to your parents about this?”

“No, why?”

“Arthur, you are going to inherit the Earth Kingdom throne. You are going to become king. You don’t have any relatives that can become king after you. All kings must have heirs to pass on the throne,” Yao explained. “I am a man. I can’t produce an heir for you.”

“We’ll adopt then,” replied Arthur.

“But the child won’t have your blood, aru,” Yao pointed out. “Mustn’t the future king have royal blood?”

“I don’t care,” Arthur said stubbornly.

“Well, I suppose you could get a concubine to bear the child for you…” Yao had gone into one of his pensive moods.

“NO!!” yelled Arthur. He looked annoyed. “Absolutely not! I am not sleeping with anyone but you. I refuse to impregnate a random woman whom I do not love just to get an heir,” he said huffily. “We’ll adopt. I want a child that’s fully ours.”

Yao looked at Arthur. By then, the fireworks had stopped and Arthur’s features were now solely illuminated by the moonlight. “I will… I will marry you, Arthur,” said Yao. “But please talk to the King and Queen about this first.”

“So you’ll marry me?” Arthur asked Yao hopefully.

“If your parents agree, aru.”

“It’s a yes then.” Arthur grinned. He lowered his head to kiss Yao’s lips tenderly. Then he rolled off Yao to dig into his pocket.

When Arthur got off Yao, Yao sat up and peered curiously at what Arthur was searching for in his pocket.

Finally, Arthur brought out a tiny box. He opened the box to reveal a ring. It was a simple gold ring with some diamonds embedded along it, but had the words ‘Eternally yours’ engraved on it. “Can I put this on you?”

Yao could feel himself tearing up. A ring made their engagement official, even if they hadn’t gotten the green light from Arthur’s parents. He didn’t trust himself to speak. Instead, he nodded, and held out his left hand.

Arthur slipped the ring onto Yao’s fourth finger. He stared at it for a while, admiring how beautiful it looked on Yao’s hand. “I know you can’t see it right now, but I got it engraved. It says, ‘Eternally yours’.”

Yao still couldn’t speak. As Arthur placed his lips on Yao’s hand, a tear escaped Yao’s eye.

Then, Arthur gazed at Yao lovingly. No words needed to be said between them. Arthur cupped Yao’s chin, and using his thumb, he brushed away the tear that was making its way down Yao’s cheek.

“I love you.”

* * *

The King and Queen were supportive of Arthur’s decision to marry Yao, but voiced the same concerns as Yao did with regards to producing a child to inherit the throne. They disagreed with Arthur’s suggestion to adopt, like Yao, saying that the child would not have royal blood. They agreed with Yao on getting a girl to bear Arthur’s child.

“WHAT?!” Arthur looked scandalised.

“We’ll pay her a large sum of money for the deed she is doing for the kingdom,” reasoned the King. “The child will be yours and Yao’s.”

“But… but I don’t love her!” cried Arthur. “I can’t sleep with her just to create a baby!”

“Many past kings have had concubines. If not for procreation purposes, it was to have some variety in their sexual life,” the King pointed out.

Arthur felt like vomiting.

“In fact,” the King continued, ignoring the revolted look on his son’s face. “My grandfather, your great-grandfather, was gay too. Well, not really. He was actually bi, but he had an inclination towards a man he had grown very fond of in the Earth Kingdom army. The man became his consort after many years of courtship. Anyway, my grandfather had a concubine who bore him one son, my father. Well, she wasn’t technically a concubine… she was more of a means to an ends – a son. He was never seen with her again after she got pregnant, and she didn’t have anything to do with him after giving birth to my father.”

Arthur shifted his stare from his father to his mother. She had not said anything. “Mother? You agree with Father?”

The Queen walked towards Arthur and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “It’s the best choice we have to keep your bloodline on the throne,” she said. “Besides, it’s not like Yao disagrees to it – he even suggested it. He understood the implications of his getting married to you.”

Arthur sighed in resignation. “Alright,” he said. “If that’s what it takes for us to get married, I’ll do it.”

“There’s no hurry,” said the King. “When you think you and Yao are ready to raise a child, we can look for someone to carry the baby.”

“That reminds me,” the Queen piped up. “I know that Yao is a nice, respectable young man, but he has to be trained in the ways of the royal court as the future consort.”

Arthur smiled. “I’ll arrange for that.”

The Queen laughed merrily. “I look forward to it.”

* * *

Yao had his back facing Arthur. He was looking out of his window with a contemplative expression on his face. Arthur had just told him about his parents’ consent regarding their wedding, but in order to ensure the royal bloodline on the throne, Arthur was to impregnate a woman. Yao had expected that. Heck, he had even suggested it! But now that the order came from the King, it meant that they had no choice. And even though Yao had brought it up initially, he didn’t really know how he felt about Arthur sleeping with another person just to get a baby. It caused a nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Yao?”

Yao thought he was incredibly lucky to have met Arthur and fallen in love with him. And what more, he would be marrying into the royal family! It wasn’t what he had wanted for himself, but it was everyone’s dream – becoming a royal. Even though his life wouldn’t only be his own anymore… Yao supposed that he could tolerate the decision for Arthur to bed a woman. After all, the baby would be theirs. And they would bring up the child together. They could be a family!

“Yao?” Arthur repeated from where he was seated on Yao’s bed. “What are you thinking about? Are you okay with my parents’ suggestion?”

Yao turned around to face Arthur. He smiled gently. “It’s alright, aru. I understand why you need to do it, but I don’t have to be happy about it. Hell, I’m not happy about it. I can accept it, though.”

Arthur extended his hand for Yao to take. “Come here.”

Yao did as he was told. He moved towards Arthur and took his hand. As soon as Yao was within Arthur’s reach, Arthur wrapped his other arm around Yao’s waist. “This is something I love about you.”

“Hm?”

“That you’re so understanding.”

Yao chuckled. “I have to be, don’t I, aru? Considering my betrothed is from the royal family.”

Arthur sniggered. He moved his body further back into the bed, pulling Yao along with him.

Yao ended up sitting between Arthur’s legs. Arthur brought Yao’s body closer to his and rested his chin on Yao’s shoulder.

There was a comfortable silence then. The moonlight streamed through Yao’s window, bathing the couple in its rays.

Yao took Arthur’s hand, feeling the slight roughness and calluses of it as a result of earthbending. There was a scar on the back of Arthur’s hand, and Yao ran a thumb lightly over it.

Arthur removed his chin from Yao’s shoulder and glanced at Yao curiously.

Yao moved to straddle Arthur’s hips to run his fingers over the faint scars on Arthur’s face until they tapered off under his jaw. Arthur’s breath hitched when Yao’s other hand wandered down over his stomach. Yao tugged Arthur’s shirt up and rested his palm flat on the prince’s chest over his heart. The heartbeat was faster than it should be, uneven and erratic, although Arthur’s expression was blank. After holding his gaze for a few seconds, Yao leaned forward and ran his tongue across Arthur’s throat, and the other man shuddered.

Arthur flipped them over, and Yao found himself on his back, with Arthur leaning over him. He was suddenly everywhere, the warm musk of his skin and the faint, sharp smell of sweat, the earthy scent of his hair. The mattress dipped as Arthur leaned forward. He lowered himself down onto his elbows so that there was hardly any space between their bodies and Yao was suddenly more aware of Arthur’s thigh between his legs, and Arthur’s chest pressed on his.

Yao tried to concentrate on breathing evenly but Arthur’s hand curled around his wrist as he pressed his lips softly on Yao’s with gentleness. Yao tried to follow him back when Arthur moved away, but the prince had moved on, nipping once at Yao’s earlobe, kissing along Yao’s jaw before parting his lips over Yao’s throat. Yao tilted his head back as Arthur sucked long, wet kisses along his neck; his hand slipped from Yao’s wrist to his hair, pushing the firebender’s head to the side and working his way around the back.

Arthur hesitated and Yao waited, breathing unevenly with his hands curled in the man's shirt. It was as if Arthur was afraid to continue further. They hadn’t had sex yet, and it was as if Arthur feared that this may lead to something more. It took Yao a moment to realise that it was not fear, but a curious, contemplative hesitation, and by then Arthur had already licked an experimental stripe along Yao’s collarbone.

Yao let out a loud, lewd sound that even he didn’t think he was capable of making.

Both Arthur and Yao immediately froze. Yao had clamped his hands over his mouth and was staring at Arthur with wide eyes. He hadn't meant to be so loud, but he had no idea that his collarbone was so sensitive. He was blushing a dark red colour by then. Yao hoped his siblings had not heard him.

Arthur’s eyes glinted, and Yao felt the excitement and terror of what was about to ensue. After sparing a quick glance into Yao’s brown eyes, Arthur pried Yao’s hands away from his mouth and returned to Yao’s throat, leaving as many wet kisses as he could while Yao squirmed under him, biting his lips against the moans bubbling in his throat.

It was nothing to when Arthur pushed Yao onto his stomach and bit down on Yao’s neck; the tension suddenly melted out of Yao’s body. He was still aware of everywhere Arthur was touching him (the hand on his back, the cool breath on his neck, Arthur’s leg between his), but his arms slackened along with his jaw, his shoulders relaxed and one of his legs slipped and hung limply off the side of the bed. Yao’s breathing came slowly now; he was utterly at the mercy of the prince.

Arthur helped Yao onto his side. Their kisses were slow, soft in a way, usually reserved for more peaceful moments like this. Arthur was like a different man from the one in the army, on the battlefield – the one that barked orders to his officers and subordinates. Arthur carefully curled his fingers in Yao’s hair as he tugged tenderly at his lips, and even caressed Yao’s cheekbone with his thumb.

From the slowness his movements had become, Yao thought that Arthur must be very tired. But Yao didn’t say anything – he was tired too, and he could feel his body shutting down. He let Arthur continue his ministrations.

As Yao drifted off, the last thing he remembered was Arthur’s tongue flicking across his lips and his own feeble attempt to reciprocate.

Then, Yao’s eyes slipped close and he fell asleep, curled up beside Arthur, happy and content, as Arthur watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. Arthur draped an arm over his lover’s body and leaned forward to plant a chaste kiss on Yao’s forehead. “Sweet dreams, my love,” he murmured.


	19. Chapter 19

Arthur and Yao were officially engaged for a year before they were married.

Upon their wedding, Yao moved into the Royal Palace. Under normal circumstances, once Yao married into the royal family, he was to forget his past life and have no contact with his family. Upon his marriage to Arthur, he now belonged to the royal family. But Arthur knew that Yao had a special bond with his siblings, and asking him to sever all ties with his family would be devastating. Simply because of that, Arthur worked hard to change the law prior to their wedding.

Initially, Arthur had invited Yao’s siblings to live in the palace too as there was plenty of space for them, but they declined his offer, saying that they were comfortable in the house their parents had left for them, and it wouldn’t sit well in their hearts to abandon and sell that house.

The royal family had even offered to assign a guard to Yao. Yao turned it down – he reasoned that palace resources should be utilised for more important things.

However, Yao would soon learn that it was a bad decision on his part and that he would come to regret it.

* * *

Yao was making his way back to the Royal Palace after paying a visit to his ex-colleagues in the lab at the university. Shortly before his and Arthur’s wedding, Yao resigned from his job at Ba Sing Se University – after he got married, he now had royal duties to execute and so couldn’t stay at his job as a research assistant. But that didn’t mean he had to break it off with his friends.

Yao had had a long day. He spent the day in an orphanage, talking to the children and getting to know them better. They were a pleasant bunch of kids, and were very happy that Yao had taken the time to meet with them. The orphanage was one of the many organisations that the Earth Kingdom royal family supported and donated to.

Whilst finishing up at the orphanage, Yao realised that he still had time before he was expected back at the palace, so he decided to go to the university for a while. Maybe he could catch up on the research happening in the lab. Honestly, he was very interested to know what the work he had been slogging over for the past four years would eventually become.

A horse-driven coach was rushing along the road Yao was walking on. It screeched to a halt right beside him. Just as Yao was about to move away to give the carriage space, the carriage door burst open, slamming into his back and causing him to fall down.

As soon as Yao hit the ground, a man pounced onto him, restricting his movements for firebending. The man was much larger and burlier than Yao, and soon overpowered Yao. The man’s weight was pressing on Yao’s back, and he could feel the air being pushed out of his lungs.

Yao’s arms were yanked behind him and tied together. He yelled, but a second man who had just emerged from the carriage stuffed a rag into Yao’s mouth, muffling his voice. Before Yao could even get a good glance at his captors, a blindfold was pulled over his eyes.

When his hands were firmly bound behind his back, Yao felt the weight being lifted off his back; the first man must have released his hold on Yao. Suddenly, he felt his body being flipped around and his feet were now tied together.

“Hurry up,” hissed one of the men. Yao guessed it was the second man, judging by the distance of the voice from him.

“Scared we’ll get caught?” The first man seemed to be smirking.

“You bet I am! We’ll be executed for kidnapping the prince’s husband!”

“But think about the money we’ll be getting!”

There was silence.

“And don’t worry. I’ve told you a thousand times already – no one will know it’s us.”

Yao felt himself being dragged towards the coach. He was thrown unceremoniously into the back, and landed with a grunt. The door then slammed shut.

The carriage began moving, this time at a much slower pace than when it had arrived.

Yao could literally hear his heart hammering in his chest. He didn’t know who these people were, and he certainly didn’t know where he was being taken. It sounded like these men wanted money from Arthur, and Yao was their means to it.

 _Okay, relax… relax,_ thought Yao desperately. He shifted about in his current position, looking for something sharp that he could use to break the ropes. Unfortunately, the compartment he was in was empty save for a bunch of what felt like hay.

 _Hay? Hay!_ Yao’s eyes widened in realisation from inside the blindfold. Hay was flammable! But Yao could not firebend with his hands tied behind his back.

 _Unless…_ Yao recalled his grandfather trying to teach him the “breath of fire”, something he learned from General Iroh of the Fire Nation royal family when he was serving in the army. Apparently, all Fire Nation royalty knew how to use the “breath of fire”. Neither Yao nor his siblings ever got the hang of it, and soon gave up, deeming it not important to master. His grandfather didn’t pressure them either; he thought it would be a nice skill to know, but didn’t think it was essential for them to know how to perform.

Now seemed like a good time for Yao to execute this “breath of fire”. He took a deep breath, drawing air into his lungs. Utilising the technique his remembered his grandfather telling him, and silently saying a prayer that this would work, Yao willed the flames into his lungs. When Yao exhaled, a blast of fire escaped his mouth, hurling the gag out.

Yao coughed once. He made a face at the stale taste of the rag that had been in his mouth. Nevertheless, he was glad for the discovery that he could “breathe fire”. It seemed easier to carry out now that he was older. Perhaps experience played a role in “breathing fire”.

Yao felt for the hay, and once he determined its location, inhaled and exhaled another blast of fire. This time, he had set the hay on fire.

Yao didn’t worry about getting burnt. He didn’t have to. He was a firebender – he could direct fire and make the flames yield to obey him.

Yao guided his hands towards the fire. After a few minutes, the rope burnt and broke.

Yao quickly pulled his hands away from the fire. He undid the blindfold around his eyes. Yao had to blink to adjust his eyes to the sudden shift from darkness to light, even if the light was very dim at the back of the carriage.

Yao didn’t have time to manually untie his feet. He didn’t know how far they had travelled. He didn’t know how far away he was from home. Yao swung his legs towards the burning hay; shortly after, the ropes around his ankles broke and his feet were free as well.

As quietly as he could so as not to alert his captors, Yao opened the door. The coach was travelling at a comfortable pace, so if Yao jumped out now, he wouldn’t be terribly injured.

Yao looked back at the burning hay. The fire was not so large that the two men in the front of the carriage would be aware of it yet. That was good – Yao had time to make his escape, and he could still manage it undetected.

Yao took a deep breath, bracing himself for the impact. He closed his eyes tightly and leapt off the carriage.

Yao landed on the road roughly, and found himself rolling down the gentle hill the carriage was journeying on. When he finally stopped rolling, Yao was on his back facing the sky. The sun was starting to set, and there was an orangey-yellowish hue in the sky. He looked dazedly at the sky for a moment. He couldn’t believe that in the span of an hour, he had gotten kidnapped and managed to escape.

Yao got up with a grunt of pain. He must have dislocated his shoulder when he landed.

Yao looked around. Where was he? He couldn’t be too far from the capital city – he hadn’t been on that carriage for very long.

Fortunately for Yao, as he was contemplating his situation, a family of four walked across the lonely road. They looked strangely at him before the wife of the man spoke up. “You look lost,” she observed.

The firebender laughed nervously. “I am rather lost, aru,” he replied. “How far are we from Ba Sing Se?”

“This is Ba Sing Se,” the woman informed Yao. “But we are in the Lower Ring. If you’re heading for the Middle Ring, it’s that way.” She pointed towards her right.

“Oh.” Yao looked in the direction of the woman’s finger. He didn’t know how long it would take for him to get to the palace. Perhaps he should head to his old home first and maybe get his shoulder fixed? Yao turned back to the woman and her family. He smiled warmly at them. “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem,” the woman replied. She then re-joined her family in making their way across the road.

Yao ran as quickly as he could through the Lower Ring streets. He didn’t know if his kidnappers had been made aware of his absence, but he didn’t want to find out. He wanted to get far, far away from them.

* * *

Arthur was frantic with worry. Before he left that morning, Yao assured Arthur that he would be back by the time Arthur returned. After all, how long could a visit to the orphanage take?

When Yao didn’t appear at 8pm, Arthur sent out a small search party for him. He ordered Ludwig to lead the search party; Ludwig had spent a lot of time with Arthur and Yao and so, he might know where Yao could be. Arthur, himself, took off to some of Yao’s favourite spots in the Earth Kingdom.

Arthur didn’t find Yao in any of the usual places Yao frequented. He even looked in Yao’s favourite tea shop as it was closing for the day.

When Arthur made his way past the Royal Palace on the way to check Ba Sing Se University, he saw Mei standing outside the gates of the palace. It looked like she was waiting for someone. Was she waiting for him? Arthur flinched inwardly. How was he going to tell her that her brother was missing and that he couldn’t find her brother?

When she spotted Arthur, Mei waved at him frantically.

Arthur jogged over.

“I was looking for you, but the guards said you had gone to look for big brother,” Mei explained.

“Yeah…”

Mei didn’t wait for Arthur to finish. “Big brother is back home. I think he should be sleeping now – he’s got a dislocated shoulder that neither of us can do anything about, so he will have to see a doctor tomorrow.”

“What-”

“Two guys attempted to kidnap him,” Mei told Arthur. “They took him towards the Inner Ring, but big brother managed to escape. By the time he reached our home, he was exhausted, and brother Kiku didn’t think he should travel anymore.”

“Oh,” Arthur heaved a sigh of relief. “He’s alright?”

Mei nodded.

“He’s not hurt?”

“Well, there’s the shoulder…”

“Apart from the shoulder?”

“No, doesn’t seem like it.”

“Oh, thank god!” Arthur’s tense shoulders visibly relaxed. “Can I go over…?”

Mei nodded eagerly. “Come on!” she cried, grabbing Arthur’s hand and pulling him back to her home.

* * *

When Yao felt his bed dip, he stirred. It took him a moment to realise that he was back at home in his old room and not at the Royal Palace. It was then memories of recent events flooded his brain.

Yao opened a bleary eye to find Arthur’s worried face looming over him. “Arthur?” he mumbled. He lifted his head and squinted to get a better look at Arthur.

“It’s okay, go back to sleep – I’m sorry I woke you,” murmured Arthur. He settled himself beside Yao and wrapped his arms around Yao’s body.

“No,” Yao protested weakly. “I’m sorry…”

“Shhh…” Arthur placed a finger softly on Yao’s lips. “Mei told me what happened.”

“Mm.”

“I’m assigning a guard to protect you,” Arthur said. “And you can’t say no this time.”

Yao nodded sleepily.

“And I’m not letting you go anywhere alone, whether it be for official purposes or not. If I can’t be there, you will have an escort. I’m used to defending myself against attacks such as these, but you’re not.”

Yao nodded again. He couldn’t argue with his husband anymore with regards to his safety. Not after he had almost been kidnapped.

“How’s the shoulder?”

Yao snuggled deeper into Arthur’s embrace. “Only hurts when I move it, aru,” he muttered.

“We’ll get Dr Roderich to have a look at it tomorrow, alright?”

Yao made a sound of affirmation. Then, he was out like a light.

The prince made sure that Yao was sound asleep before he reluctantly dislodged his arms away from Yao and got out of Yao’s bed. He had yet to call off the search party and inform his mother that Yao was safe. She had been very worried when she heard that Yao could not be found.

When Arthur exited Yao’s old room, closing the door silently behind him, Hong Kong was standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall opposite Yao’s room. “I know what you’re thinking,” said Hong Kong in a deadpan voice.

“Huh?”

“You’re thinking that my brother marrying you may have been a mistake. Now that he’s your spouse, there are more dangers he has to face.”

Arthur gazed at Hong Kong sorrowfully. “That… that thought has crossed my mind…”

“I’ll admit – when he like, came back today at the brink of unconsciousness, I was so scared for him.”

Arthur continued looking at Hong Kong. He didn’t say anything.

“But I thought a lot about it – big brother is happy with you. He truly is. He has never been happier – we can see it in his eyes, his mannerisms. And of course, we want him to be happy. It is not a mistake. You two are destined to be together. Just…” At that point, Hong Kong took a deep breath in. “Just promise me you’ll do everything in your power to keep him safe, because I don’t know what we’d do if we ever lost him.”

“I will,” Arthur said in a hoarse voice. He didn’t realise it before, but now he knew that Yao not only played an older brother role in the lives of his siblings, but also a parental role. “I feel the same way.”

Hong Kong nodded. Then, his eyes softened. “Aren’t you staying?”

“Yes, but I’ve sent out a search party for Yao and if I don’t call it off, they’ll keep looking.”

Hong Kong’s lips curled into a smile, but he hastily hid it with his hand. “You really love my big brother, don’t you?”

Arthur stole a glance at Yao’s room door. “I do,” he replied. “He’s my everything.”

Hong Kong chuckled. He was pleased with Arthur’s reply. “Come on, I’ll show you out.”

* * *

The next morning, when Yao woke up, he found Arthur sleeping on a chair by his bed. He bristled. It must be very uncomfortable sleeping on a chair. Why didn’t Arthur just get into bed with him? They were married after all!

Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Yao rolled over and swung his legs out of bed. He sat up in front of Arthur and gently shook the prince awake. “Arthur.”

“Hm?” Arthur began stirring.

“Arthur, wake up. You can’t be very comfortable sleeping like this, aru.”

“Yao?” Arthur mumbled before his eyes snapped open and he immediately sat straight up. “Yao!” he cried, grabbing Yao’s arms. “Are you alright? How’s your shoulder?!”

“I’m fine,” replied Yao. “What about you? Is your neck okay? Why didn’t you just sleep in the bed with me?”

“I’ve just got a little crick, no big deal,” said Arthur as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Yao tsked. He reached forward to the nape of Arthur’s neck and massaged it gently. “You should really have slept in my bed.”

“Well, I was afraid I might aggravate the shoulder.”

“Arthur,” Yao began with a chiding tone. “It’s a shoulder, aru. You will need to do a lot more to damage it.”

Arthur shrugged. “Just didn’t want to hurt you anymore.”

Yao laughed. He stopped massaging Arthur’s neck and kissed his nose. “That is… really sweet. But your wellbeing is of more importance than mine.”

Arthur snorted. “Your wellbeing is more important to me,” he told Yao.

Yao opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by a huge yawn from Arthur. “You don’t mind if I sleep for an hour more? I got back here pretty late last night – had to look for Ludwig to call off the search party,” said Arthur.

“Of course not!” Yao stood up and ushered Arthur into his bed. He winced as the sudden movement caused a sharp pain to shoot through his right shoulder. But Yao’s expression quickly changed – he didn’t want Arthur to concern himself with him, and to enjoy his rest. “Take more if you need it, aru!”

Arthur smiled at Yao, as he wrapped the blanket he had been using over Arthur’s body, tucking Arthur into bed. When Yao was about to withdraw his hand, Arthur took it and kissed it tenderly.

Surprised by the kiss, Yao blushed.

Arthur’s smile widened into a grin and he let go of Yao’s hand. Yao was so cute when he got embarrassed. Then, Arthur settled into Yao’s bed and closed his eyes. Moments later, he was fast asleep.

Yao left his room and closed the door quietly. Now that Arthur was sleeping and out of hearing distance, Yao clutched his shoulder and let out a sound of discomfort. The pain wasn’t unbearable, but it was very uncomfortable. He would need to get his shoulder fixed soon.

Yao made his way downstairs, where his brothers and sister were probably already awake and having breakfast. Sure enough, when Yao entered the dining hall, there was a big pot of jook sitting on the middle of the dining table, and Mei and Hong Kong were feasting on their own bowls of jook.

“Morning,” Yao greeted his brother and sister. “Where are Kiku and Yong Soo?”

“Brother Yong Soo’s in the kitchen frying some fried fritters to go with the jook,” replied Mei. “Brother Kiku had to go to the factory. Apparently, there were some problems with today’s shipment of materials?”

“Oh,” said Yao. Out of all his siblings, Kiku was the most enterprising one of them all. He didn’t further his education in university, like Yao did, but opted to take a bank loan and open a factory that made clothes for the colder weather in the Earth Kingdom. It was a very good business, and Kiku had managed to pay back the loan three years ago.

“Where’s Arthur?” inquired Hong Kong through a mouthful of jook. Arthur had insisted that Yao’s family members called him by his name, and they had already gotten used to it.

“He’s still sleeping,” replied Yao. “Apparently, he got here pretty late last night?”

“Oh yeah,” said Hong Kong. “I heard brother Kiku open the door for him.”

Just then, Yong Soo appeared from the kitchen carrying a bowl of cut-up fried fritters. When he spotted Yao, his face brightened. “Big brother!” he chirped. Yong Soo slammed the bowl onto the dining table and proceeded to glomp the air out of Yao’s lungs. Despite how hyperactive Yong Soo was, it was nevertheless surprising how careful he was with his brother’s dislocated shoulder.

“Morning, Yong Soo,” grunted Yao.

As soon as the bowl of fried fritters hit the table, Hong Kong reached out to grab a few pieces of fried fritters and dumped them into his jook, totally ignoring his two older brothers.

Mei turned back to the conversation she was having with Hong Kong before Yao entered the dining hall. “So when are you leaving?”

“In a month’s time.”

“Wait, wait,” said Yao. He had managed to free himself from Yong Soo’s massive hug. Yong Soo was now scooping some jook into bowls for himself and Yao. “Where is Hong Kong going, aru?”

“I’m going the Northern Water Tribe in the North Pole to see Emil,” Hong Kong told Yao. Emil and Hong Kong had been dating for two years now. The distance between the Earth Kingdom and the Northern Water Tribe made it hard for them to maintain the relationship, though. So Emil and Hong Kong often commuted between their homes to see each other and to make their relationship work. It was tough, but they thought it was worth the effort.

“Hey, can you bring back some seaweed and squid?” asked Yong Soo as he passed a bowl of jook to Yao. “Those things are delicious, da-ze!”

“Yeah, sure,” replied Hong Kong through a mouthful of jook. “I’ll even like, try to get some giant sea crab.”

“Awesome! I love their crab!” squealed Mei.

Yao smiled as he dug into his jook. It was nice to see his siblings so friendly with each other. All they did when they were little was argue and fight.

* * *

That afternoon, when Arthur was fully awake and functional, he took Yao back to the Royal Palace to have his shoulder looked at.

Dr Roderich examined Yao’s shoulder and confirmed it was dislocated. After giving Yao some painkillers, he proceeded to reduce the shoulder. Dr Roderich flexed Yao’s elbow to 90 degrees and gradually rotated the shoulder outward. After five minutes, he released Yao’s arm. “Feel better?”

Yao lifted his arm and wiggled his shoulder. “Yes, a little.”

Dr Roderich smiled. “Good. It should spontaneously relocate by the end of today, so don’t worry too much about it. Meanwhile, I will give you some painkillers to manage the pain, just in case.”

“Thanks.”


	20. Chapter 20

“Prince Yao, will you please slow down?!”

Yao cringed at the title. One of the things he gained upon marrying Arthur was the title ‘prince’. He would never get used to being referred to as a ‘prince’. He stopped walking and turned behind to face the person who addressed him.

Gilbert, the guard assigned to Yao was running to catch up to him. Co-incidentally, Gilbert was Ludwig’s brother, and no matter how good they were at their jobs, the similarities between them ended there. It was strange to say that both of them were very different in temperament – they were as different as night and day. While Ludwig was stoic and serious, Gilbert was loud and could get pretty obnoxious. But Yao didn’t mind – Gilbert was pretty entertaining, and he liked listening to Gilbert prattle on when he accompanied him.

“You’re too slow, Gilbert, aru,” Yao said, smirking at the guard.

Gilbert looked affronted. “Excuse me?! I am not slow!” he exclaimed. “It’s you who is sneaky! I just stopped to give a young girl some directions, and when I turn around, you have disappeared!”

Yao raised an eyebrow.

“And besides, your brother’s ship doesn’t leave for another twenty minutes. We’re still early! What’s the rush?”

Yao shrugged. “I just want to be early to say goodbye to my little brother.”

“You sound like a father giving away his daughter for marriage.”

Yao laughed. “In a way, I think I am giving Hong Kong away,” he mused. “He’s going to see his boyfriend in a faraway land. Obviously, I’m worried.”

Gilbert guffawed and touched Yao’s back comfortingly. Well, as comfortingly as Gilbert could. “Well, he’s a big boy now. You can’t keep him locked up here anymore. He’ll be alright.”

Yao sighed. “Yeah, you’re right, aru. Besides, it’s not the first time he’s going to the North Pole,” he said. “It’s just that my parents died right after Hong Kong was born, and I’ve been taking care of him ever since he was a baby. He’ll always be a baby to me. He’ll always worry me.”

“I totally get it.”


	21. Chapter 21

After a few years into Arthur and Yao’s wedding, the Earth King decided to officially retire. He wanted to travel the world before he was too old to do so. Therefore, Arthur succeeded him as king.

However, before that, Arthur and Yao decided that they were ready to raise a child. So the king and queen found a nice, respectable young girl from the Earth Kingdom who was willing to bear a child for Arthur and Yao. Her name was Elizaveta. She was rewarded handsomely after the baby was born, of course.

Before Elizaveta got pregnant, the palace healers monitored her vital statistics as well as her fertility cycle. As soon as she was deemed stable and was the most fertile, it was arranged for Arthur to sleep with her.

The night that Arthur was to impregnate Elizaveta, Yao couldn’t sleep. He was alone. He tossed and turned around in bed, a sense of jealousy coursing through his veins. Yao knew that his husband having sex with another person meant nothing; Arthur had zero feelings for her and it was solely to create a baby, but he couldn’t help the ugly, jealous feeling within him. Now, he could no longer say that he was the only one that Arthur shed his clothes for, the one who had seen Arthur’s naked body. Now he had to share that privilege with a random girl. Granted, she was not so random – she was handpicked by the king and queen, came from a pretty well-off family and had excellent genes to pass on to the child, but still.

Briefly, Yao wondered what sort of face Arthur would make when he had sex with Elizaveta. Would his face be moulded into an expression of utter bliss just like when he made love to Yao? Would he make the sort of sounds and moans that he swore was reserved for Yao and Yao alone?

Yao buried his face into his pillow. He knew he would not be happy about Arthur sleeping with a woman, but he didn’t think he’d be THAT miserable. But then, they wouldn’t have been able to get married if not for that particular condition.

Yao knew he wouldn’t get any sleep that night. He swung his legs over the bed and stood up. He lit a candle with his firebending and left the room. Maybe a little fresh air would do him some good.

Yao made his way to the Royal Palace grounds. He found the flower bed where the queen grew her flowers, and settled himself down on the ground, facing the flower bed. Yao gently blew out the candle, preferring the dim light which came solely from the moon.

“Can’t sleep, huh?”

Yao jumped. He didn’t expect anyone to be awake at this ungodly hour. He whipped his head around to see the Earth Queen hovering over him. She was dressed in her pyjamas with a robe over them to protect herself from the cold.

Yao laughed nervously. “Yeah. I can’t stop thinking… about…”

“I know,” replied the queen. She walked towards Yao and primly sat herself down on the ground beside him. “I wouldn’t be able to take it – the man I love sleeping with another person. You are a very strong man, Yao.”

“It’s… it’s what has to be done, aru,” replied Yao softly. He averted his eyes from the queen’s gaze. He hated the way his voice broke.

“Yes. Yes it is,” said the queen. One look at Yao’s broken expression had her engulfing Yao in a motherly hug.

As soon as the queen’s arms came into contact with Yao’s body, the tears started falling. He knew it was stupid to cry. The prince loved him and only him. But sharing Arthur with another person, even if it was just for one night, hurt too much.

The queen ran her hands up and down Yao’s back comfortingly as he sobbed into her shoulder. “Artie truly loves you, you know?”

Yao gave a watery laugh. “I know. I’ve never doubted his love,” he said. “And I love him so much too. It’s just… painful to share him with someone I don’t even know.”

“I understand,” replied the queen. “Arthur cares deeply for the kingdom – he would do anything for the kingdom’s sake.”

Nobody said anything for a while. Yao’s sobs quietened into sniffles. Then, the Earth Queen spoke up again. “You know that swing over there? The one that Arthur is so fond of?” she asked Yao, pointing to the swing that Arthur had first brought Yao to on the night Yao was publicly introduced as Arthur’s partner.

Yao nodded.

“Well, when Arthur was young, he wasn’t the most obedient of children. In fact, he was very rebellious. You tell him to do one thing, he ends up doing the exact opposite.”

Yao hid a smile behind his hand. “He does seem like that type, aru.”

“When Arthur was three, he had managed to climb to the top of the swing. Don’t ask me how. But then, he lost his balance and fell. Broke his arm.”

“Ouch.”

The queen laughed. “He spent the rest of the day crying and clinging onto me. Didn’t want to leave my side.”

“I’m sure it must have hurt…”

“Oh! After it was put in a cast and set, his arm didn’t hurt anymore. He just wanted my attention. That sneaky little boy. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was his plan all along.”

Yao giggled.

The queen looked at Yao and grinned. “You laughed,” she observed.

Yao looked up from where he was staring at his lap and wiped a stray tear from his cheek. “That I did,” he said, smiling sincerely at the queen. “I’m glad you came out here tonight, aru.”

The queen shrugged. “I knew that you could use some company.”

Yao and the Earth Queen spent the rest of the night until the wee hours of the morning talking about Arthur and mundane things that would help make Yao feel better. Yao fell asleep at around 4am in the morning, exhausted from thinking and worrying about Arthur.

Arthur hurried out of the Royal Palace, looking for Yao at approximately 6am. When he saw Yao sleeping on the ground, his head rested on the queen’s lap, Arthur stopped and sighed in relief.

“What’s wrong, dear?”

“No…” Arthur was trying to catch his breath. “I went back to our room, and I couldn’t find Yao… and I was afraid that something might have happened to him…”

The queen chuckled. “The Royal Palace is one of the safest places in the Earth Kingdom, Arthur,” she said.

Arthur put his right hand on his right hip and cast his mother an annoyed look. “I can’t help but worry when it comes to Yao, okay?”

The Earth Queen smiled tenderly at her son. “I know. You love him.”

Arthur didn’t say anything in reply to that. He walked closer to the two figures on the ground. Then, Arthur knelt down to touch Yao’s face lightly. “What was he doing out here anyway?”

“He couldn’t sleep thinking about you and Elizaveta…”

“So what are YOU doing out here?”

“I knew he needed a shoulder to cry on,” the queen replied, shrugging.

Arthur flinched. “He was THAT upset? It didn’t mean anything! She was just a way to get a baby!”

The queen placed a hand over Arthur’s. “I know. He knows that too. But it’s upsetting for him to know that you are having sex with another person. How was it, by the way?”

Arthur looked at his mother in horror. “I am not discussing this with my mother!”

The queen shot her son a pointed look.

Arthur recoiled at the look his mother gave him, and he exhaled loudly. “I did what I had to,” he said. “Hopefully it is enough to get her pregnant, and I will never have to do this again.”

“What do you think of her? As a person?”

Arthur looked at Yao’s peaceful sleeping face. “She’s a nice girl. Beautiful. Outgoing. Intelligent. Kind. Any man would want their child to have her genes. You and Father did a great job picking her.”

“I’m assuming she’s still sleeping and you left after doing the deed?”

Arthur glanced guiltily at his mother. “Yeah. I… uh, stayed for a while. Awake. I couldn’t sleep.”

The queen smiled. “The two of you need some rest,” she told Arthur. “Why don’t you take Yao back to your bedroom in the palace, and take the morning off any official duties? I’ll let your father know.”

“Okay. Thanks, Mother.”

* * *

When Arthur next woke in the room he and Yao shared, Yao was already awake and looking at him. “Yao?” Arthur gruffly voiced. “Wh’t’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m sorry if I woke you,” Yao said. He quickly averted his eyes away from Arthur and turned away. “I just wanted to watch you sleeping like this for a while,” he mumbled.

Arthur blinked as his brain slowly roused from sleep. Yao’s mannerisms were odd. It was unlike Yao to be so distant from him. “Are you mad?”

“No.”

“Are you upset?”

There was a pause. Finally, “Maybe. A little.”

“You know it didn’t mean anything, right? I love you,” Arthur said. “Only you.”

Momentarily, Yao’s heart stopped. He couldn’t breathe.  It felt as if his chest was being gripped but at the same time, he wanted to explode. He knew that Arthur loved him – hell, Arthur had declared his love for him many, many times in the past. But this… the way Arthur said it… Yao felt himself tearing up. Yao rolled over to face Arthur. “I know,” he choked out.

“I’m sorry for what you had to go through. But why are you upset?”

Yao felt tears leak from his eyes. “I don’t know – it’s stupid, aru,” he said, furiously rubbing at his face to dispel the tears.

Arthur reached out and stroked the side of Yao’s cheek. “Tell me.”

Yao looked at Arthur hesitantly. A few stray tears were still escaping Yao’s eyes. He sighed, and flopped over onto his back. “No, it’s stupid.” Yao rubbed the last remnants of tears from his face.

“Yao…” Arthur gazed at his husband sadly for a while. Finally, he leaned forward on one hand, moving closer as his eyes travelled over Yao’s face as if memorising the details of Yao’s features. But of course, Arthur already knew it by memory – it was not the first time he had done this. One hand drifted up and gently brushed some stray hairs away, fingers brushing Yao’s ear to trail down the nape of his neck.

Yao sucked in a silent breath.

Slowly, Arthur lowered his head and Yao watched as a tongue darted out to wet his lips. Yao bit gently on his lower lip. His eyes lowered to Arthur’s mouth as he watched it come closer to his own. His breathing became quick and erratic. Yao could hear his heart pounding fiercely in his chest in the deafening silence of the room.

Just before their lips touched, Arthur paused, his eyes searching Yao’s as if asking for permission to proceed.

Yao gave a small nod, assuring Arthur that it was okay to go further.

“Yao.” Yao’s name was murmured against his lips. He trembled against the vibrations from Arthur’s voice. Their breath mingled together in the short space between them.

Slowly, Yao lifted his head up to press his lips against Arthur’s. Arthur’s breath hitched, and Yao smiled gently into the kiss. Arthur’s free hand slid under the blanket covering the lower half of their bodies to grip Yao’s waist. It was so soft and warm and gentle, unlike the demeanour Arthur displayed in the royal court, but it was because he had to or his advisors would walk all over him. It left Yao feeling thrilled. He could feel his breath quickening in pace.

When Arthur pulled back just enough to break the kiss, Yao whimpered softly at the loss. Arthur pressed his forehead against Yao’s, the fingers of his left hand slowly crawling up Yao’s back. Yao gasped and arched his back, as he felt Arthur’s touch on his skin; it was like electricity. With a moan, Arthur leaned back in for another kiss. This one was deeper but still soft and gentle.

Arthur parted his lips just enough for his tongue to slide against Yao’s lips. It was at that point that Yao forgot how to breathe. The room spun as Arthur moaned into his mouth, a deep wanton sound that made Yao’s stomach drop. His hands gripped the sheets as he tried to collect himself.

Yao opened his mouth and his tongue darted out after Arthur’s. He was rewarded by Arthur’s tongue flicking out to ensue in a battle for dominance, which Arthur won hands down. When they broke apart, Yao turned his head to the side. It felt as if he had run a marathon. His heart was pounding more fiercely than ever within his chest. Yao was very aware of Arthur’s panting warming his neck.

It was funny – they had been intimate so many times before, but now, Yao felt as though they were doing it for the first time. His heart was racing, his breathing was erratic… Perhaps it was the act of Arthur apologising that was eliciting these reactions from Yao.

He was trembling, but Yao freed his hands from the blankets and placed them on Arthur’s back, pulling him down towards him. Even though neither of them were cold, Yao flung the blanket over Arthur’s back, cutting them off from the rest of the world as their lips met once more.

The pressure of Arthur’s chest against Yao’s, Arthur’s arms braced on both sides of his head felt heavenly. The way Arthur’s legs twined with his, their hips pressing together. Yao felt protected and very safe beneath Arthur’s larger body; he liked the idea of Arthur shielding him from the world.

Arthur pressed down on top of him, and Yao let out a quiet sound. It was all Yao could do to hold himself together. Everywhere they touched was heat and pressure that turned to pleasurable shivers. Breaking off the kiss suddenly, Yao buried his face in Arthur’s neck.

A hand strayed up the shirt Yao was wearing and along his back. Another hand’s fingers ran lightly along his collarbone. Yao gasped loudly and his hands grasped Arthur’s shirt, pulling it as he arched into Arthur’s touch. After being married for so many years, Arthur knew where to touch Yao that would bring out the best reactions from him. Arthur breathed across Yao’s cheek and dragged his fingers along Yao’s spine. The delightful shiver coursing through Yao’s body reached all the way to his toes, causing them to curl. His hips bucked up as he pushed at Arthur’s shoulders. Yao was unsure if he wanted Arthur to stop his ministrations or wanted more.

Arthur hissed through his teeth as he shifted his body so that Yao could be more comfortable. Yao pressed closer for another kiss; he tried to nip at Arthur’s lower lip.

Yao felt reassured of Arthur’s love for him; he felt wanted and needed by Arthur. It was immensely better than the bitter feelings he felt the previous night.

Arthur planted a kiss on Yao’s temple. “I have to end here,” he told Yao. “If I continue, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself.”

Yao looked at Arthur with slightly glazed eyes. “O… Okay. I understand, aru.” It was daytime, and it was rather inappropriate to proceed in such intimate activities when they had responsibilities later in the day. But he was glad that Arthur showed him that he loved him no matter what; it was nice to feel wanted by his husband.

Arthur touched his forehead against Yao’s. “I’m sorry for last night. I’m sorry I had to bed someone who wasn’t you. But I hope that doing it once was enough to get her pregnant and we don’t have to go through this again.”

Yao’s lower lip trembled slightly. “Don’t be sorry,” he said quietly. “You have done no wrong, aru.”

“But you were upset,” Arthur pointed out.

Yao smiled softly, and cupped Arthur’s cheek with his palm. “I was unhappy, yes. Nobody would be happy with the love of their life and another person doing… it,” he replied. “But it doesn’t matter – I know you love me. And besides, we might have a baby to look forward to, don’t we?”

Arthur’s face split into an excited grin. “That we do, my love,” he said, kissing Yao again. “That we do.”


	22. Chapter 22

After that, the Earth King officially retired and left for the Southern Water Tribe, and Arthur ascended to the throne. He was one of the youngest Earth Kings in history, but he had advisors to help him out. Arthur also wanted to give his father a break from ruling the kingdom, and that was why he agreed so readily to take over the throne.

Elizaveta was found to be pregnant a few weeks later. Both Arthur and Yao were glad for the news – because they would be getting a child. Yao was also secretly happy that this ended Arthur’s sexual relation with Elizaveta. But of course, he didn’t voice it to anyone.

Yao tried to be kind towards Elizaveta seeing as she was carrying his child. He really did. But whenever he was around her, a bitter feeling would surge through him, and he had to bite back the desire to snap at her. Yao knew she was not at fault for anything. Heck, she was the one providing a service to him! But he could not help the way he was feeling. So, whenever Elizaveta said anything to him, Yao would grit out a response he thought was appropriate. He usually maintained his distance.

If Arthur noticed Yao’s behaviour, he didn’t say anything. He continued showering Yao with love. He treated Elizaveta as she deserved with care and respect as the mother of his child.

The baby was born on a rainy autumn morning. It was a boy – which calmed Yao’s qualms about raising a girl, which he had only a little experience with Mei. Giving her _the talk_ when she hit puberty was awkward as hell. But that’s another story for another day.

The baby was named “Phillip Xiao”. “Phillip” after Arthur’s great-great-great-grandfather, and “Xiao” because of Yao’s Fire Nation heritage. Yao was most surprised, to say the least, when he was asked to pick a second name for the new prince. He didn’t know that he would have any say in the child’s name. Yao chose the name “Xiao” because it meant laughter in his language (笑), hoping that the baby boy would be filled with happiness and laughter in his life.

As per the contract the royal family drew out with her, Elizaveta remained in the palace for a few months after the baby’s birth to monitor on her well-being and also to provide the prince with the nutrition he needed. After that, she was paid the money she was promised and she left, although she remained good friends with Arthur.

* * *

The little prince was now two years old. It was one of Arthur’s rare off-days where there was not much to be done and his advisors could do the work, and he had decided to take his family for an outing to the beach. They had set out a mat and had settled themselves in a quiet area on the beach.

It was Phillip’s first time at the beach. Once his tiny feet came into contact with the sand as Yao set him down, he giggled heartily. He buried his toes in the sand and wiggled them. Then, he looked at Yao in amusement. It seemed that Phillip was fond of the feeling of sand.

Arthur had stripped down to a pair of swimming shorts and was trying to get his son’s attention.

Yao gestured towards Phillip and pointed at Arthur. “Look, Phil. Look at Papa, aru.”

Phillip’s blonde head whipped around to face Arthur. Arthur was beckoning the toddler towards him. “Come, let’s go play in the ocean, shall we?”

‘Ocean’ was a new word to Phillip. He had never heard it before. He took a step back hesitantly at first, but then reasoned with himself that it was safe – his parents wouldn’t bring him to a dangerous place and besides, his Papa would be there to protect him. So he took Arthur’s hand and toddled alongside Arthur towards the sea.

Yao watched as the pair made their way towards the sea. Arthur took the first step into the water. But Phillip was still a bit uncertain. Yao watched Arthur kneel down to talk to their son softly. After that, Phillip lifted his leg and placed his toe into the water first presumably to get a feel of it. A small wave was making its way towards the shore, and as Phillip dipped his toe into the water, it reached the shore and washed over Phillip’s feet. Yao could see Phillip still for a moment; he was probably surprised that the ocean was so fluid and the water in it could move like that. Then, Phillip slammed his foot down, giggling happily as he jumped around for a while in the ankle-deep water.

Yao watched as Arthur spoke to their son and indicated towards the sea. Phillip gave an excited nod as he clapped his hands joyfully. Arthur then lifted Phillip into his arms and brought the little prince deeper into the water.

Seeing the father and son pair frolicking together in the sea brought a sense of completeness into Yao’s being. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine having a partner he loved so much and a family that he could pour his affections into.

Meeting Arthur, becoming his friend and then his lover, Yao decided, was the best thing that could have happened to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And… that’s it! Sorry for such an abrupt ending ^_^ I lost the inspiration to write this fic, and I couldn’t leave it hanging… So yeah. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have writing it!


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